Tess the Secret Goddess: Daughter of Lady A
by girlthatwrites
Summary: This is about a girl who discovers she is a demigod, and more specifically, the child of Poseidon. But who is her mother?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I was running down the hallway towards its only door. At first I didn't know why I was running towards it and then I heard the shrieks of hatred coming from behind me. I was almost at the door when I realized there were no knobs or anything. I tried pushing on it but it didn't budge. The shrieks were getting closer and when I turned I saw the black silhouette of some creature at the end of the hall.

I looked around for a weapon, but could not find one. All I had was my ring. Then, suddenly, a bow and arrow appeared in my hand. The arrow was a weird bronze color that glowed faintly and the bow was silver. The creature came into view. I almost screamed in both fear and disgust. It was what looked like a young woman with flaming hair and pointed teeth. One of her legs was actually a hoof and the other was made out of metal. I pointed my arrow and her and released the string.

It hit her right in the stomach. With a cry of defeat, she crumbled to dust.

I woke up to a bright flash of light.

"Shut the window," I groaned as I turned over. _Sure, Sister Anne, I'd love to room with my best friend Soleil. She's such a morning person that I'm sure I'll finally make it to morning classes on time,_ I thought to myself, _Stupid me!_

Soleil whacked my head with her notebook. She slammed the door on her way out of the dorm. How was she ready this early? I checked the clock to make sure I had not overslept again. It was only seven o'clock. Breakfast would not be served for another half-hour! I obligingly got up and took a shower and put on my uniform happily, which is weird since most people hate their uniforms. Mine is not half bad, it is just a black skirt and vest with a white blouse.

I checked to make sure I had done all my homework before leaving for breakfast. I never took any chances. If I did not keep this scholarship I would be stuck back in the orphanage year-round. It would not be the first time I skipped breakfast to finish it. After I triple checked that I had done it all I left. As I walked down the hall I turned to look over my shoulder. I do not know why I was doing that. I was still looking over my shoulder when I almost walked right into my Latin teacher, Mr. Brunner. He was hard to miss with his tweed jacket and messy long brown hair and beard. Also, because he was in a wheelchair.

"Sorry," I mumbled and stepped around him. He always ignored me in class so why don't I ignore him out of class.

"Jess," he called. I stopped and turned on my heels slowly.

"It's Tess," I said slowly and deliberately, "What do you need, Mr. Brunner?"

"I was wondering if you'd seen Soleil. I must speak with her about her grades. You're her friend right?"

"Yes, I'm also in your Latin class. The same one as her, to be more specific. Do you know how I did on the test?"

"Good, I guess. Since you're in the same class as her maybe you could help her study. I'm worried she's not remembering the lessons."

"Don't worry, I will. She's actually thinking about dropping the class. She doesn't get why she has to learn all about all that Greek mythology. I find it interesting," I said a little too eagerly.

"She will understand soon, though," he said and rolled down the hallway.

Why was he always so obsessed with her grades? She was not the one who had to hold down an academic scholarship so she would not have to go back into an orphanage. Her mom and step-dad were Richie Riches; they could afford to keep her in this school. I thought about the Christmas break when I had stayed at her house and her mom had quizzed her on all the mythology from the past semester. I was still thinking about it when I sat down at the table in the cafeteria.

Soleil handed me a coffee and began to babble about some guy in the senior class she liked.

"Tess? Are you even listening to me?" she asked, "Obviously not. You seem tired. Considering you were up until three in the morning again you should be. How can you stay up that late?"

"I can think clearer at night," I said, "By the way, Mr. Brunner wants to speak to you about your grades."

"Again? I wish he would stop worrying about my grades, they're fine. Guess what, I'm going to your swim meet today. I can't wait to see you whip their butts. You're so fast," she said and stared over my shoulder, "How can a guy that cute even exist?"

"That's what you said about that werewolf guy in those vampire love story books/movies, and look what happened. Don't take this the wrong way, but you have no chance."

"Yes I do!" she retorted, "All guys love girls with blonde curly hair and blue eyes."

"Not if the guys a senior and you are a freshman. Besides, you only like him because he has a car and you want to be the only freshman girl with a date to the dance that can drive."

"Shut up," she said snappily, "I like him for other reasons."

"Sure," I said and turned to look at the boy. He was opening up a water bottle and seemed to be having trouble. I laughed. What a wimp. As I turned around I waved my hand to dismiss the subject. I heard a yell behind me and when I snapped my head back around I saw the senior with water all over the front of his shirt and his face.

"Tess," she groaned.

"What? You think I did that?" I choked out between laughs.

"No, but I know who did," she said with a smirk, "Poseidon, god of water."

"You can so drop Latin now that you know the name of one of the most famous gods. You must feel so proud," I said.

"I do," she said. She thought for a moment. "That was one of the stupidest things I've probably ever said."

"Yeah, especially since he's known more as the god of the _sea_," I said. Mr. Brunner came into the cafeteria with a weird look on his face. "And because you just made it sound like the Greek gods are real. Here comes Mr. Brunner."

Mr. Brunner quickly rolled over to us. He looked around wildly and then rested his eyes on the cheerleaders for a second.

"Soleil, come with me, now," he said and she stood up slowly. "Quickly, now. And Tess, you were wrong, the Greek gods are real."

I did not have time to answer because I heard a high pitched shriek come from one of the cheerleaders.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I turned to look but the girl was already running towards us. I jumped up and headed for the back door. I heard clopping and clinking as we ran. When I turned I saw the monster from my dream the night before. Soleil pushed me out of the way. She grabbed the handle of the door. Mr. Brunner pushed out of his wheelchair. I almost fainted when he stood up. He was half-horse!

Someone flung open the back door. Soleil almost fell back. The person was a guy who looked like he could pass as my brother. He tossed me a pen and said, "Uncap it!" then he ran out of sight. I uncapped the pen. Suddenly a three foot long bronze sword was in my hand. The monster slowed down. She stopped about twenty feet away. "You don't even know how to use that thing, you stupid little useless demigod. Too bad Chiron didn't bring you to his camp sooner," she said. She started to charge at us again.

I jumped up onto the table next to me. Soleil ran out the door. The sword felt light and awkward in my hand. The monster tried to jump up onto the table too, but I hit it in the head with the sword hilt.

"Who's Chiron?" I asked, more to myself than anyone else.

"Me," Mr. Brunner said.

I did not really have that much time to think this over because the monster was coming back at me. I somehow did a back flip off the table and landed perfectly. I held the sword out and circled the table. The monster turned around on top of the table. There was no way I was going to be able to get rid of this thing with a sword this light. Soleil came running through the door again. She was holding up some sort of shield, like one of the ones Mr. Brunner had hanging in his classroom. She nodded to me. I tossed her the sword. She caught it and held it like she was some type of sword-fighting expert.

Now I was weaponless. The monster was coming closer. I looked around, trying toremember what had happened in the dream and how I had gotten the bow and arrow. The last thing I remembered from the dream was looking at my ring and then a bow had just appeared. I stared at my ring. I wished it could just turn into a bow.

Suddenly my wish came true some how. My ring sprang into a silver bow and when I held it up a bronze arrow appeared. I pointed it at the monster as it got closer.

"Leave before I sentence you to the deepest pits of Tartarus!" Chiron/ Mr. Brunner yelled at her. She erupted into flames with a high-pitched war cry.

"How did you do that?" I asked him.

"I'll explain on our way," he said and grabbed my shoulder. Suddenly I was on his back and then Soleil was.

Chiron/ Mr. Brunner crashed through a window, his horse hooves clopping on the tile. We were off the campus in five seconds.

"Take this as an honor. I am a centaur by the way," he said.

"That thing called you Chiron," Soleil said. "Like the demigod trainer?"

"Not _like_ the demigod trainer. I _am_ the demigod trainer. That thing was an _empusa_ by the way. They are vicious monsters that love demigod blood."

"Then why were they at our school? There are no such things as demigods. This is all just a dream," I said, hoping what I had said was true.

"There actually are such things as demigods. You and Soleil must be them. I had always had my suspicions about her," he said as we came onto a road with only fields on either side.

"Demigods are children of the gods though," Soleil said, "So who are our parents?"

"I don't know, but I think you might be the daughter of Apollo. Like I said, I had already had my suspicions about you. You are dyslexic and ADHD, but now that I think about it, so are you, Tess."

"Yeah, I know, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"You're dyslexic because you're first instinct is to read Ancient Greek. You were diagnosed with ADHD because you notice more than a mere mortal."

"Where are we going?" I asked nervously.

Just as I asked we ran down a hill that had a tree with a dragon asleep around it at the top. As we stopped I saw over two dozen cabins. There was a pavilion, a big stadium, a track, and a bunch of sheds with smoke billowing out of them. Chiron cantered to the four-story white house with at wrap around porch. Sitting at the table in the kitchen was a middle-aged man with a Hawaiian shirt and chinos.

"Hello, I'm Dionysus," he said, "I'm the camp's head director. You may call me Mr. D. I don't like you. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Please excuse Mr. D," Chiron said after the introductions. "He's a bit grumpy about being here. He was sent here unwillingly."

"Doesn't show," I said. I realized I still had my uniform on. "Do you have anything we can change into?"

"Yes, we do, but first I would like to show you where to two will be staying," he said and led us towards a small cabin that was the only one that looked like a regular camp cabin. Inside were a few bunks and a lot of sleeping bags.

Chiron gave each of us a pair of jeans and an orange camp T-shirt. Thankfully he also supplied us with sneakers, too. Soleil wanted to try out archery, so I tagged along to see how she did. She got a bull's eye almost every time. Chiron trotted over after a while. He asked us to go back to the Big House with him.

When we got there, we went inside. In the living room was a girl with blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. A familiar looking boy was sitting on the couch next to her. Chiron's head almost touched the ceiling because of his centaur height.

"These are two of our head counselors," he said, gesturing towards the two on the couch. "They are Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson. They will help you with any questions you have about camp."

"So which house am I in?" Soleil asked excitedly.

"This isn't Hogwarts, we don't have houses. They are cabins that symbolize who your parent is," the girl named Annabeth said. She sounded both annoyed and amused by the comment.

"Whatever. Am I in Apollo?"

"We don't know yet. First your godly parent must claim you," Chiron said.

"Claim her? What is she? A lost puppy?" I asked.

"Do not worry; it will not take that long for them to claim you. Annabeth and Percy were claimed by their parents within their first few weeks. She is the daughter of Athena and he is the son of Poseidon."

Not until then did it really hit me how absurd this whole thing was. The Greek gods are real? What kind of lunatics were these people?

"I can't believe you would kidnap us and bring us to this nuthouse, Mr. Brunner," I said to him and ran towards the door. "What kind of sick person are you?"

I ran out the door and towards the road. I realized I did not know how to get back to the city from here. I saw the lake and kayaks out of the corner of my eye. I veered slightly in their direction. I heard the screen door slam and Percy began to chase me. He yelled to a bunch of kids sitting on the docks. They got up and blocked the kayaks like a human barricade. The road it was.

Percy grabbed some kid who was about my age to help chase me down. From the one time I looked back I saw that the kid had short, straight silky black hair, but his bangs were a little long and slanted. He looked a little emo-ish with his all black clothes, but he was a fast runner. He was catching up with me. I could hear his feet behind me as I reached the top of the hill.

The second I crossed the tree the ground started to shake. I fell down. As I looked up I saw a giant coming towards me. I tried to run but the giant hit me into the air. I landed hard on the road. Did I mention it was not exactly a dirt road? The emo-ish kid came running over to my side as my vision became fuzzy. My head hurt a lot. He took off his sweatshirt, rolled it up, and put it under my head. Then he ran over to where Percy was fighting the giant. The last thing I saw was a blurry picture of two swords, one black and the other bronze, slashing through the air at the giant. Then everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

When I woke up I was in a brightly lit room. I realized I was in a hospital bed and thought I was in a hospital for a second. Then I looked out the window and saw some kids in camp T-shirts kayaking. I wished I was one of them right now. I pictured myself floating along on the water, watching the fish dart by beneath the surface.

I heard some voices downstairs and decided to go see what it was all about. I quietly tiptoed out of the room and down the stairs. By the time I reached the kitchen door I had a dull headache from all the moving around. Sitting at the table were Percy, Annabeth, and the emo-ish kid. Chiron was standing between the stove and the table. The door was open just enough for me to see and hear them.

"Soleil was claimed by Apollo last night," Chiron said.

"That's good, but what about Tess?" Annabeth asked.

For some reason, after seeing the giant and hearing them talk about Soleil being claimed and everything, I started to believe them. The Greek gods must actually be real. It sort of hits you like a sucker punch when you first hear it, but after you start to realize how true it is, it really is not too bad. Maybe being a demigod will be fun.

"She was left at an orphanage with a note with her name and the date of her birth," Annabeth announced. "Interesting."

"It says here she likes nature and hikes," the emo-ish kid said. "Could be Demeter."

"She's also really smart. She has an academic scholarship to Furrows Academy. Athena is a big possibility," Percy said and put his feet up on the table.

I thought about being Athena's daughter. I liked to read. Maybe she was my mother. She was my second favorite goddess. Artemis was my first. I was a big girl power person.

"It's got to be Athena," Chiron said. "These grades are incredible. I can't believe I didn't notice this before. I should have let her fight the _empusa. _It would have given me more proof. "

I smiled to myself and went to back away when the emo-ish kid said, "No, it can't be Athena."

"He's right," Annabeth said, "All Athena children have gray eyes. Every single one."

"Then it's got to be Deme-,"

"Did you guys see these swim records?" Percy interrupted Chiron "They are amazing."

Chiron took the paper. He read it through twice. He passed it to Annabeth and her eyes widened as she read it. "She was heading towards the kayaks before the people blocked them," the emo-ish kid added.

"Why did you chase her, Percy?" Chiron asked.

"I didn't want her to get hurt," he replied.

"It could be…" the emo-ish kid started but Chiron held up his hand and shook his head.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. They all looked up at me with appraising looks. No one was angry I had left the room. They all seemed to be in deep thought as Chiron motioned for me to follow him out of the house.

Chiron brought me to the Hermes cabin after he checked my head and made sure it was fine. Apparently I had been out for almost twenty four hours. He told me to try out all the activities and get to know as many people as possible. Since it was the school year there were less people, but in the summer there would be more.

I immediately went to visit Soleil after he had left. The outside of the Apollo cabin basically tells you that inside is the best place to live in the world with its pure gold walls and solar power paneled roof. The walls in side were painted a pale gold and all the bed sheets were made of golden silk. At the far end was a bookcase full of poetry and medicine books. All the beds were against the left wall and had a nightstand/ bureau next to them (made of solid gold, of course). Opposite each bed on the right side of the wall was a desk that had poetic rhymes swirling all over their surfaces like from a projector. I did not see any on the ceiling, which just made it ten times cooler. Every desk had a shelf above it with a first aid kit, personal poetry books, and quivers and bows.

"You live here?" I asked as Soleil led me inside.

"Yeah," she said like it was nothing, but her smile gave away her excitement.

She grabbed her bow off her shelf and went out the door. I did not want to leave. This place was awesome. But, I did anyway. On my way to the archery range with Soleil I told her about the conversation I had overheard in the Big House. She set her bow and eyed the dummy.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were Athena's daughter," she said happily. "But, you probably aren't. I'm so excited to find out who's kid you really are."

"You don't get it. If _they _have no idea at all, then I definitely won't," I complained and took an extra step back.

"Perfect," she giggled as the arrow hit the dummy in the eye. She turned seriously to face me. "You're supposed to be the smart one. Don't you remember what happened in the cafeteria the other day when that monster came?"

"Mr. Brunner wanted to talk to you," I guessed.

"That and…," she saw that I had no idea what she was talking about and sighed. "What happened with the guy that I like's water bottle?"

"It exploded in his face."

"What had you been doing when that had happened?"

"Nothing. What is the point of this?"

"You had waved your hand. Didn't you say that they were shocked at your swimming records and that you were heading towards the kayaks? What do they all have in common?"

"Water," I said dumbly, and then I realized what she had been hinting at. "No, it can't be."

"It could be," she said and pointed her arrow at the dummy again. "Prepare for a nose job, dummy."

"Well it's not," I said harshly and walked away, leaving Soleil to her dummy massacre.

"Where're we going?" he asked as I turned around.

"You're choice," I said briskly.

"Fine, but we can't get there in this unless you know a way to get a kayak to go across land."

He got out of the kayak and turned to me. I groaned. He winked at me then started walking towards the forest. I got out of the kayak and followed him. My annoyance quickly subsided as we got deeper into the forest because I love being around nature and hiking. As he held a low branch back for me I asked him, "Do you think I'm insane for staying here? This is probably all just bull, but even if Greek mythology is real, it's _Greek _mythology and not _American_ mythology."

"Greek mythology moves with Western civilization. America is the Greece of today," he explained simply as we came into a small break in the trees where the river was deeper than other parts in the woods.

"I still don't think I belong here," I said, "My parents don't want me, that's why I grew up in an orphanage. If I had parents, or even one parent, that cared then I wouldn't have."

"The gods have many children. They're not allowed to meddle in their children's lives so the children have to find their own ways here. It's wrong of them to pick favorites, but some do and try to help them. That's how it is for most people unless you're the only child and your dad hates you."

"But you have at least one parent to care for you," I argued, "I don't!"

"Drop the pity the orphan act because it's not like you're the only person that has ever had something bad happen to you. I've had worse. Far, far worse. I was stuck in a hotel for over half a century without aging. Zeus killed my mother. My sister, the one thing in the whole world that I loved, died right after we got here. Oh yeah, and did I mention, my dad hates me!"

"Exactly, that's the difference! You have a dad, you've been claimed. You can say you have a parent! I can't say that! I haven't been claimed and I won't be because I don't have any of the skills. I'm not Athena's daughter because I don't have the eyes and I can't be Demeter's daughter because I can't control plants! I have no skills and definitely no godly parent!" I screamed as my anger peaked.

Suddenly the river began to rise into a giant wave. Then it engulfed him and me as it fell on us. We were dragged into the deep river bed and began to be tumbled around by the unruly water. I started to get angrier at my misfortune as the water flung me around even more. I looked around for the boy when I realized I was breathing. That was impossible though. I was underwater! I began to panic. The water started churning in the opposite direction. I realized what was going on almost too late.

I made myself calm. The water obeyed as I willed it to settle down. I searched for the emo-ish kid. He was near the surface and started swimming perfectly fine as the water stopped throwing us around like rag dolls. He swam towards the surface. I followed. When I broke the surface I saw him lying on his back on the river bank, gasping for air. He sat up and stared at me as I got out and walked to his side. I sat down next to him. He continued to stare at me.

"How did you survive that?" I asked him.

"I got a few chances to get some air in between being a water puppet. Also, I've had some bad experiences with Percy over the years," he said and then looked at my clothes, "Lucky, you didn't get wet."

"What?" I asked as I realized what he had said was true.

"That's no fair, Tess," he said with a mocking smile. I started a little when he said my name. I realized I didn't know his. "I'm Nico," he said as if he was reading my mind.

"I guess it isn't fair, is it?" I asked. Then I did a cannon ball into the water. I willed myself to get wet and it worked all to well.

"Is that better?" I asked him as I got out.

"Much," he said and stood up.

I was getting sort of cold from the wetness and decided to try something. I made all the water molecules on my body come off and swirl around me. I was surrounded by a wall of swirling bubbles and perfectly dry again. I could see Nico through the bubbles. He was smiling. No, it was not a mocking smile or a smirk or anything. It was a genuine smile that made him seem less scary. I began to wonder why he seemed so scary as I made all the molecules disappear in a mist.

"I take that back, it's not better. Now it's unfair again," he said.

"I know," I said and laughed.

"I guess you're just going to have to get wet again," he said and threw his wet sweatshirt at me. I grabbed it and threw it back at him. He hit it aside and then gave me a huge hug so that I was wet again. He spun me around before he set me down again.

"Get away, now I'll look like I just went swimming," I said and he took a step back.

"You _did_ just go swimming," he said matter-of-factly.

"I know. I still don't get why I didn't get wet. Whatever, I was just wondering, who's your dad?" I said as I did the water molecule thing again. "I mean, you said he hated you, so he must me some super mean god." I tried to lighten the mood by saying, "Or you're just a really bad son."

His smile fell and his hair fell back over his forehead. It covered his eyes. "Hades," he said quietly.

I started to say something along the lines of an apology for acting like a jerk, but he cut me off.

"I know why you're not wet."

"Okay," I said slowly. I pushed his bangs to the side so that I could see both his eyes again to make sure he was not joking. He shook his head so it fell back into his eyes.

"You love water, can control it, and don't get wet when you go in it. You do realize what this means?"

"Uh, I think. Can you clear it up for me?" I said sheepishly.

"You're the daughter of Poseidon," he said. His smile came back, which just made me smile all by itself.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Nico and I started walking back to camp a few minutes later. A few people who looked like half goats peered out at us from behind trees as we silently walked by. At one point a girl with greenish skin and a dress of leaves walked by us on the trail. She waved and smiled at Nico, who blushed, as we passed. I bit my tongue until the girl was out of earshot and then I blurted out, "Nico's in love with a… wait, what was that?"

"Dryad, a tree person," he said. He slapped his hand over his mouth, but it was too late.

"Nico loves a dryad! Nico loves a dryad!" I chanted as he chased me down the rest of the path.

When we were out of the forest he did not stop chasing after me. I stopped my song, but he still continued to chase me right into the sword-fighting arena. I ducked in time as I sword swiped over my head. I got back up to run again and tripped over a dummy. When I turned over and looked up I saw to identical faces looking down at me. They both had stormy gray eyes and brown hair. At first I thought I was seeing double until I realized one had curly hair and a little more muscle than the other one with straight hair. I stood up, careful to avoid the sword tip of the curly haired one. He threw his sword back carelessly and held out his hand. "Norman St. Vincent, at your service. It is my pleasure to meet you. I assume you are a daughter of Aphrodite with your beauty," he said in what I knew was a fake sophisticated voice. I just laughed anyway and shook his hand. The other boy just rolled his eyes and swung his sword around impatiently.

"Nick, this idiot's brother. I'm a son of Athena, you know, the goddess of wisdom and _battle strategy_. I would appreciate it if you would please leave us to practice," he said, "So now you can run along and play with your make-up or do whatever it is you Aphrodite girls do."

I raised my eyebrow and then decided to play along just for fun. I motioned towards the supply sheds and Nico understood. He walked over quietly and began to rummage through them for a sword. I glanced back and saw Soleil walking into the arena. She saw me and walked by us casually. She stopped about fifteen feet away, examining her bow.

"Really? Well how silly of me to interrupt your practice. Wow, you're really buff," I said in a girly-girl voice and poked his arm.

"Uh," Nick said and blushed, "Thanks, but I think you should go now. I wouldn't want a pretty girl like you to get hurt."

"Aw, how sweet," I said and batted my eyelashes. I noticed he was holding a water bottle and got an idea. "I'll have to tell my sisters about you."

"Um…uh…thanks," he said nervously and uncapped his water bottle, "But you really should go now. Sword-fighting isn't exactly a sport for girls in the first place in my opinion, and definitely not Aphrodite girls."

I smiled like what he had said was exactly what I thought, even though it wasn't. Nico came out from one of the sheds with a sword and gave me a cautious look. I held me hand away from my side a little and twitched my fingers. Nick's water sprayed into his face and Nico threw me the sword. I caught it and pointed it at Nick. He stared at me like I had a million heads.

"Going to fight me, macho man?" I asked.

His face went blank for a second and then he picked up his own sword. The sword Nico had given me was even lighter than the one I had had in the cafeteria. Nico could tell and started searching through the sheds again. Norman backed up. When he did, Soleil set a blunt arrow and shot at him. It hit him in the side, which made him double over. She came over and kicked him behind the knee then grabbed his shoulder and pushed him to the ground. He jumped back up with his sword raised. She set her bow down and drew her own sword. Nick tossed his empty bottle to the side as I heard a loud clang resonate off of Soleil and Norman's swords. Nick just ignored them. He stood there and waited for me to make the first move. He was a defensive fighter obviously.

I faked a lung for his knees and he went to deflect it with his sword. Using the part of my sword closer to the hilt I brought it down on the tip of his. I turned my sword at an angle so that the tip of mine was near the hilt of his and then I flicked my sword up. His sword went flying through the air but there was another one next to him that he quickly picked up.

"Not to bad, pink girl," he said.

"First of all, I never said I was a daughter of Aphrodite. Second of all, I'm not her daughter," I said, "Third of all, I hate pink."

This time he lunged at me and I jumped out of the way backwards. Nico appeared with a new sword. I tossed my sword to the side and was momentarily defenseless, but Nick didn't take advantage. I caught the new sword when Nico threw it. I weighed it in my hand a little as Nick tried to lung again and I jumped back. The sword was perfect.

Nick swiped at my feet and I did a back flip. Where did that come from? I didn't know, but I was now out of the arena. I ran towards the docks and he followed. I stopped short and crouched into a ball. He tripped over me and fell onto the wooden dock. He sprang up quickly and withdrew a knife, tossing his sword to the side.

I held my sword at arms length and prompted him to move backwards. Soon I had him pinned against one of the wood beams that helped hold up the docks. In a lightning quick move he knocked my sword into the water, grabbed my shoulder, and pinned me against the beam with the knife at my throat.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see that the dock ended one foot away. When I glanced the other way I saw Nico and a large group of campers that were watching us. Soleil and Norman stood off to the side a little. They both had bleeding cuts on their arms and legs. Soleil had one really but gash on her left calf. Nick was looking at his knife and I closed my eyes. This would hurt, this would be painful. I was going to die.

I could hear the water churning below with my panic. The water! Wow, I'm an idiot.

"I win," Nick whispered and pulled he knife away, "So, since your not Aphrodite's daughter, who are you he daughter of?"

I opened my eyes and stared into his. He stared back and his competitive edge in his eyes faded into something else, something kinder. "You don't win," I said and fell into the water. I sank to the bottom quickly and looked for my sword. I saw it gleaming a few yards away. I quickly went and retrieved it. I knew that from this depth they wouldn't see me.

After about one minute Nick dived in the water and began to search for me. I saw a few naiads and went over to stand next to them to blend in. When they saw me they waved like we were old friends.

"Hi, who are you?" one of them asked.

"Tess," I said and glanced back to see Nick swimming back to the surface for air.

"So you're another one of Poseidon's kids?' she asked.

"Yeah," I said as Nick came back down to search again.

"Why do you keep looking back at that kid? Is he a friend of yours?" another asked.

"Is he your boyfriend?" one that only looked about seven asked.

"Far from it. I'm kind of in a little sword-fight with him and I'm tricking him," I explained.

"He seems worried. Why is that? He should know you can breathe," the first said.

"Well," I said as Nick came down from his second intake of air. "No one really knows I'm Poseidon's daughter."

"You're a smart girl. Very good strategy. But you should go now, Chiron will be coming soon," the second one said.

"Bye," I said and swam into Nick's view.

I made myself look like I was unconscious and floated to the bottom. He spotted me and grabbed my hands. He swam back to the surface and someone grabbed my arms to help me onto the deck. It must have been Nico because he whispered so that only I could hear, "What in my dad's name are you doing? Oh gods, you're dry. This isn't good." I continued to act unconscious, but I opened my eyes so that they were less than even slits. Nick was kneeling on my right which was perfect because my sword was in my right hand. I heard Chiron running towards us and knew I had to move quickly.

When Nick went to check the pulse on my wrist I grabbed his hand and twisted his arm, which cause him to turn around. I sat up and held his arm tightly behind his back. I put my sword to his throat. "I win," I said and Nick stared at my sword in disbelief as Chiron ran through the crowd watching us. I took my sword away from Nick's neck and we stood up.

"How did you survive that? You were underwater for almost five minutes. How are you dry?" Nick said.

"I would like to know that too," Chiron said.

"Uh, well…," I started but Nico stepped forward.

"Chiron, I respect you and your abilities, but you're an idiot if you can't clearly see that she's Poseidon's daughter," he said.

Percy broke through the crowd at a run. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open.

"She hasn't shown any of his skills," Chiron said and Nico interrupted again.

"Hasn't shown any skills? Are you insane? She just almost drowned me a half hour ago when she caused the river to make a wave, she survived a five whole minutes underwater, and she's dry. What more do you need?" he asked.

"I believe you. She hasn't been claimed yet though," Chiron said quietly.

Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound. Everyone turned and saw a giant trident made of water appear in the air over my head. It was shining faintly green and then it disappeared into a mist. I fixed my gaze from over my head to Chiron.

Percy ran over to me and gathered me in a hug. He swung me around about twenty times and then set me down. The whole time he had been yelling, "I have a sister! I have a sister!" Nico had disappeared somewhere during this. After Percy was done everyone went quiet.

"All hail, Tess, daughter of Poseidon, god of the sea, storm bringer, earth shaker," said Chiron as he and the rest of the campers bowed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Welcome home," Percy said as I walked into the Poseidon cabin.

I looked around at the walls of shell and abalone, the beds with the silvery blue silk sheets, and the small fountain that poured into a mini-pool with steam rising off of it. The wooden floor looked like white sand.

"And I thought the Apollo cabin was awesome," I said and sat down on an empty bunk. There were only four bunks including mine and I could tell which one was Percy's. It was unmade and messy. There was a horn on one of the pegs and Percy saw me looking at it.

"Minotaur. He was one of the first monsters I killed," he explained, "As you can see, I beat him. If I hadn't I wouldn't be here right now and you'd be freaking out."

"Why?" I asked.

"Never mind."

"The Minotaur, really? That's pretty cool. I have no idea what the name of the monster I fought was."

"_Empusa_, and you did a good job. You seem to be pretty good at archery. Can I see your bow again?" he asked.

I made my bow appear and Percy admired it for a while. Somehow the sword I had used while fighting Nick was hanging on the peg next to my bed. I thought I remembered Chiron mentioning that I could keep it because it had been perfect for me, but I didn't really remember. It had a new holster, too. Percy said someone would be coming around for inspection soon and that we should clean up. _Good luck with that_, I thought as I found a broom and started to sweep the floor.

After I was done cleaning Percy was still trying to clean up his bunk so I decided to go practice my archery. On my way out the door I bumped into Soleil. She had a cut on her arm, a black eye, and a bruise on her knee. She was scowling. We started walking silently. When we passed the Athena cabin she spit at it.

"What was that for?" I asked her.

"That stupid jerk," she hissed.

"C'mon, Nick isn't that bad. I mean, at least he had the courtesy to try to 'save' me from the lake."

"Not him. He seems fine. It's his brother. Norman. He is so annoying."

Soleil is kind of competitive so I asked, "Did he beat you?"

She shrugged. "There's a strong possibility he did."

I rolled my eyes. "It doesn't matter. I mean, you would so beat him in an archery competition."

"I would, wouldn't I?" She turned around.

"Sol, what are you doing?" She went up to the Athena cabin. Nico answered the door. "Why are you here?"

He jerked his thumb behind him. "Nick and I are building a chariot."

"Why?" Soleil asked.

"For the chariot race," Norman said. "Idiot," he added at the end. "Tess, you can come in if you want. The dog can stay outside."

Soleil flipped a strand of hair out of her face. "Watch it, Wise Guy, or I'll turn you into a shish kabob."

"I'm shaking in my boots."

"You should be," Nico said before Soleil could. "I've seen her at the archery range."

Norman smirked. "We'll see how good she is." He went back inside. A couple seconds later he jogged back out. He started sprinting. "Keep up with me, if you can."

Soleil ran behind him. Nico motioned for me to come in. Nick was sitting at a table with a paper in front of him. He was studying something in a book. He drew a little bit on the paper before looking up. He smiled. "Well, if it isn't the newbie who beat me."

I shrugged. "I got lucky. It was a little unfair considering you thought I was unconscious."

"Part of strategy is deceit."

"I guess." I spotted a paper on someone's bed. I peeked at it. "The Hunters…who are they?"

"The maiden followers of Artemis. They hunt monsters," Nico explained. "You have immortality until you die in battle."

This was oddly appealing. I mean, I had only fought one monster, and it had been totally fun. "How do you, like, join?"

"You usually only get to join if you encounter the Hunt," Nick explained. "Or if they go recruiting. They've been recruiting a lot more recently. Maybe you're in luck." The lead from the mechanical pencil he was using broke. He swore in Latin. "But, you're probably too old."

I pointed at the bunk. "How old is your sister?"

"Eleven."

"I'm fourteen. That's not that much older."

"I guess."

"It's only three years. Their lieutenant was almost sixteen," Nico added. I had almost forgotten he was there because of how quiet he was.

"Thank you, Nico," Nick said in a weird way. "Hey, Tess, could you go check on Norman? Just make sure he and Soleil haven't killed each other yet. He's been complaining about her since he got back here."

"Don't believe anything he says," I warned. "Soleil is not as air headed as her blondness may lead you to think."

Nick laughed. "I'm sure she's not."

I raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

He set his pencil down. "Well, she can't be too smart if she challenged Norman to a swordfight, and, just now, an archery competition."

"How would that-"

"Norman's one of the best swordsman in the whole camp," Nico said. He rubbed his arm like he was remembering an old wound. "He's also really good at archery." He looked at Nick. "But Soleil is even better."

"No duh, she's a daughter of Apollo." I thought for a second. "Norman's a good swordsman?"

"He beats me almost every time," Nick admitted.

"That's weird. He seemed…I don't know he just didn't seem like it."

"He's not as serious as you would expect him to be. But trust me; he is smart even if he doesn't always…seem it. Okay, so maybe Soleil is smart."

"She will be pleased to know you think highly of her. And I will go check on them. Not for Soleil's sake, but Norman's."

"Nico, can you go with her?"

"You think I can't walk to the archery range myself?"

He picked up his pencil. "No, I just need some quiet time to finish this design."

I felt kind of embarrassed for automatically accusing him. "Oh, okay."

Nico and I left. We walked to the archery range in silence. I saw some Ares kids giving a satyr a wedgie. That could not have been very pleasant. When we got to the range it was taken by the Hermes cabin. Norman and Soleil were sitting impatiently on a bench to the side. I walked over with my hands in my pocket. Soleil waved hello with an arrow.

"When will they be done?" I asked to make conversation after a few seconds of silence.

"Fifteen minutes," Soleil and Norman responded at the same time. They glared at each other.

I looked around for something else to talk about. I found nothing.

"What's the ship for?" Nico asked.

"What ship?" I asked. Nico pointed at the docks. I turned. A mid-sized old fashioned sailing ship was tied to the docks. "Nice ship."

"It got here this morning," Norman said. "I have no idea what it's for. Maybe a quest."

"A quest…" I mused. "Like those things the old heroes went on."

"Yes. I didn't hear about anyone being assigned a quest. The last one was about three months ago I think."

"Yeah," Nico said quietly. "We burned their burial shrouds a while ago."

Everyone went silent. We all looked at the ship. Maybe it belonged to Percy. I thought about asking him at dinner. Soleil squinted at the ship. I knew her look. She was thinking. You can not tell Soleil is thinking deeply about something unless you know her really well. You can only tell because the gold flecks in her blue eyes flash, like little lightning bolts are crackling inside her brain. Suddenly she clapped her hands. Nico jumped.

"My dream!" she exclaimed. "It was in my dream!"

"What was?" Norman asked urgently.

"The ship." She shrugged. "It's no big deal. It was just a dream."

"Yet again, you're wrong."

"Pardon me?"

"Dreams are a big deal for demigods," Nico explained. "They could be omens."

"Good omens, right?"

"No," Norman said casually, "usually death omens."  
>Soleil nodded. "Lovely."<p>

"Not always, though," I said hurriedly. "I had a dream that I fought that vampire thing."

"_Empusa_," Norman corrected.

"Whatever. See, sometimes they can be good. I guess."

"What happened in the dream?"

"Um, well," Soleil started, "it was just the ship."

"Was anyone on it?"

"Maybe. I think so. Yes."

"Are you positive?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

"Five."

"Who were they?"

"I don't know. I think one was me."

"Was the ship moving?"

"Not really."

"How was the ship not really moving?"

"We were at a dock. That was it. There were five people, including me, getting off a ship onto a dock."

"Thank you." He rubbed his face. "Like pulling teeth."

"Oh, I would love to pull all your teeth out, but your dental plan probably doesn't cover dentures."  
>I rolled my eyes. "What does this mean?" I asked.<p>

"Who knows?" Nico said. "We're about to find out."

He pointed to the side. Chiron was coming toward us. He had Nick at his side. He looked grim. Everyone stared at him. When he arrived he looked right at me. He spoke directly to me.

"I want you to lead a rescue mission," he said.

I was stunned. "Uh…um…"

"Three months ago three demigods set out on a quest to sail the Sea of Monsters. After a while we assumed they were dead. Less than an hour ago I received a distress Iris-message from two of them. Their boat is very battered and they are barely surviving. I need to launch a rescue mission as soon as possible. I was able to borrow the ship from an old friend. Will you lead the mission?"

"Um…" I glanced back at Soleil. She pointed at Nico, Nick, Norman, herself and me then held up five fingers with mock surprise. "Sure, I would love to. Under one condition."

"Anything within reason."

I pointed at everyone Soleil had just pointed to. "They come with me."

"The more the merrier. You leave immediately. Pack your bags quickly." He trotted off.

I turned. Everyone was smiling. Well, everyone except Nico, who seemed to always need special prodding to be able to smile. I guess it is a son of Hades thing. "You heard the man. Get packing." They all ran off to pack. I pulled Nick back. "Hey, I have a question."

"What?" he asked.

"What's the Sea of Monsters?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Nick pulled the last rope in. It was kind of cramped with five people on the smaller ship but we were dealing well. Then again, we had departed about a minute ago. Soleil came back up from the cabin below. It had five hammocks and a thing that slightly resembled a bathroom. Nico came up after her looking none too happy. She gave him an amused look. She may not seem like it but she can be tough. She will probably be more comfortable with our accommodations than anyone else.

"Can I steer?" Nick asked eagerly.

I stepped away from the wheel. Nick took over. I really hoped he did not run us into a rock. I trusted he would not. It was a weird feeling, trusting a boy. I went down below. Norman had pinned a map up on the wall. I looked at it. The missing demigods had apparently Iris-messaged from a place right in the middle of the Sea of Monsters, which I now knew was literally a sea of monsters located in the Bermuda Triangle.

I followed our plotted line of travel with my eyes. I kept going over the line that went from the entrance of the Bermuda Triangle to the X in the middle. Anything could along that line, if we even managed to stay on that course. While packing my brother had given me a quick recap of his travels to the Sea of Monsters. What he had told me was only beginning of the things the Sea held.

I sat on a hammock. My eyelids felt like lead. I seriously needed to get better sleeping habits. I usually stayed up until two or three in the morning every night. It was not unlike me to pull an all-nighter either. I do not know why I am such a night owl. I just think better at night. It is similar to how Soleil enjoys waking up at the crack of dawn. It is just something that is a part of my makeup.

I lied down on the hammock. Maybe my mom had been a night owl. I blinked as I stared at the hammock above me. After finding out who my father was, I had felt kind of relieved. It was almost like I was starting to think I really had never even had parents at all. Now I at least knew who my dad was. I still wondered who my mom was. Now my search was narrowed down to just mortals. I rolled over on my side. It had to be someone who loved the sea. I came up with a new goal: To meet my dad and ask him to tell me who my mother was.

I heard someone snoring. I opened one eye. Nico was sleeping in the hammock on the other wall. Norman was asleep in the one above his. Soleil rolled over in the one above me. My arm felt kind of soar. She must have stepped on it while getting into her hammock. I heard Nico mutter something about stupid Shakespeare who never shuts up. I got my bag out from under the hammock. I went into the equivalent of a bathroom. I changed quickly. I had no idea what time it was. I went above deck.

Nick was barely able to keep his eyes open as he steered. I took over. He tried to object. I shoved him below. He fell asleep on the floor. I went back to the wheel. I looked up. The sky was a dark blue, but getting lighter. It was almost dawn. Soleil would be doing cartwheels on the deck soon. I must have slept for almost ten hours. When was the last time I had slept that long? Probably not since I was a baby.

We were two days away from the Bermuda Triangle. I do not know how I knew that. I could just feel it. I steered the boat for a couple more hours. Soleil came above deck at six thirty. She had slept in this morning. She put her hair in pig tail braids as she looked out over the water. An hour later Norman came above deck, then another hour later Nico. Nick slept until almost one in the afternoon. We decided to have lunch.

"Lunch" consisted of everyone getting some water, one pre-packaged sandwich that was soggy, and a cookie. The sandwich and cookie were covered with about an inch of plastic wrap. After lunch we balled up the plastic and had a little plastic wrap fight. It was Soleil and I against Nico and Norman. Nick steered for a little while. After about ten minutes I got bored with the fight. I tried to switch with Nick, but Soleil wanted to stay solo. She ended up winning. You do not mess with an Apollo child and her projectiles.

"Hey, Pippy Long-stocking, help me pick this stuff up," Norman called to Soleil as he started picking up the plastic with Nico.

"I won, you lost," she reminded him. "If I wanted to clean, I wouldn't have tried so hard to beat. Well, I wasn't trying that hard."

"You think you're so amazing don't-"

Nico held up his hand. "You aren't gonna win this one, dude."

They finished cleaning off the deck. I slapped Nico in the face when he suggested we just dump the plastic in the ocean. His tooth hit his lip and it started to bleed. It was his own fault for suggesting we pollute the ocean. I was steering the boat so it would not hit a fishing boat up ahead when Nick shouted. I turned my head. He was looking through a spy glass while standing on a crate.

"What's the crow's nest report?" I asked.

"A large ship up ahead, captain."

"I know. I'm going around it."

"No, this is a different one."

"So what's the big deal?"

"From what I can see, the name is written in Greek symbols."

I nodded. "Keep watch."

We went around the fishing boat. It took about an hour before I spotted the ship Nick had been talking about. It was hardly a speck for almost three hours. How powerful was Nick's spyglass? It was almost midnight when Nick took over again. I went below. Nico was already asleep. Norman was studying the map. I sat on my hammock. Soleil looked over the side of hers. I started twisting my ring around. It was on the ring finger of my left hand. It had a diamond in the shape of a crescent moon. It usually glowed in the moonlight.

"I wish I had something like that," Soleil said wistfully. Norman turned to look at us. "I have to lug around my bow and arrow all the time. And my sword and knife."

"It can't be that bad."

"But it can."

"Maybe you could carry around just your bow and arrow. No knife, no sword."

"Nah. I've discovered sword-fighting is almost as natural to me as archery. Isn't that right, Wise Guy?"

Norman smiled. "Think what you want about yourself."

"I will, thank you very much." She stretched. "Yawn. I should hit the hay."

"Or the concrete."

"Only attached to a bungee cord." She lied down. She wrapped herself up like a caterpillar in a cocoon with her blanket. I did the same. My blanket smelled more like a moth ball than a butterfly. Wait, do butterflies even have a smell? "Night, Tess."

"Night, Sol."

"Night, Nico."

_Snoooooore._

"That translates to good-night, right?"

_Snore._

"'Kay, just checking."

Soleil tossed and turned for about a minute before settling down. I stayed on my side. I kept playing with my ring. I do that randomly sometimes. Norman marked something on the map before finally going to bed. I stayed awake for about three hours more. It seemed like I had just fallen asleep when Nick came running below deck.

"It's a cruise ship!" he yelled.

"Mhm," I agreed sleepily.

"Yup," Soleil mumbled.

_Snore. Nico._

"Shut up, Nick," Norman growled. "I was dreaming about Megan Fox."

Nick yanked his brother off his hammock. He pushed Norman up the stairs. He slapped Nico on the head. Nico jerked away with a snort. Nick started shaking my shoulder. I tried to ignore him. Finally I jumped up in annoyance. He pushed me up the stairs before trying to wake Soleil up. I tripped up the stairs. Yes, you can trip up stairs, especially early in the morning after being violently awakened.

My eyes widened when I saw the ship. It was huge. We would be right along side it in seventeen minutes. Something hit my back. I turned. It was my bag. Nick was tossing them up the stairs. Soleil carried hers on deck. She looked ticked. So, of course, she blamed it on Norman. I blocked Nico's bag from hitting me in the face. I went down a few steps.

"What are doing?" I asked.

"Getting ready," he answered. He went further back below.

I followed him. "Getting ready for what?"

"We're getting on that ship."

"Excuse me?"

He took the map off the wall. "If we turn that ship around it will be perfect for traveling in the Sea of Monsters."

"It's a cruise ship! Now, say, a navy ship, yes, I would get that, but not a _cruise ship._"

He started to tick things off on his fingers. "It's big, it's bulking, it's sturdy, it has a medical station in case the demigods are injured, it has life boats, it has advanced controls-"

"Okay, I get it. But, what if there are people on it?"

He put the map in his bag. "There aren't."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"I'm in charge of this rescue mission," I reminded him. "You can't just make all these decisions. I have the last word."  
>He slung his bag on his shoulder. He looked at me. "What's your word, then?"<p>

"How are we getting on?"

"I brought one of those cheap boats in a can thing. It's about fifteen yards. We can make it easily."

"So you have this completely planned out? You're prepared for every worst case scenario that could possibly happen."

"Yes. But, you say it and we won't go."

I hesitated. "Get that stupid boat in a can out. We'll be passing the boat in thirteen minutes."

I went along with the whole plan grudgingly. Nick used some old oars we found on the boat to paddle us the gigantic cruise ship. We all went up the ladder on the side. I was extra cautious as I walked around with Soleil. We were scoping out the place to make sure no one was there. No one was. I felt the boat change directions. Nick must have gotten into the controls room. Soleil was excited to be on the ship. She dived into the pool. Norman followed after her. Nico did a cannonball. I went to the controls room. Nick had apparently found one of those fancy hats somewhere. I took it from him.

"I'm in charge," I reminded him again.

"A'yai, Captain. Where's everyone else?"

"That's part of what I don't like about this ship. You can never know exactly where everyone is."

He was getting agitated. "I would have an idea where they are if you would tell me."

"Pool on the first deck."

"Thank you." He turned before leaving. "I know you're in charge and all, but that doesn't mean you have to get ticked at me if I have an idea."

I rolled my eyes. "You have no idea how obnoxious you sound right now."

"And you have no idea how selfish you sound."  
>I turned to face him. "You think that just because you're a guy you should be in charge and not me, don't you?"<p>

His voice rose a little. "I do think I should be the leader, but not for that reason."

"Of course that's not the reason."

"If you got off your high pegasus you'd realize that I make a much better leader than you."

"I really don't think so."

"Please, Chiron only put you in charge because you can steer a ship."

"Maybe so, but there had to be another reason. Maybe it's because I have something you lack."

"Like what? I've been at Camp Half-blood since I was seven! I am far more worthy of leading this rescue mission than you!"

He slammed the door behind him. I sped up the boat. I considered tracking down Nick and telling him to get off my ship, but that would be hypocritical since he was the one who spotted this thing. I made it go faster. Besides, right now I was the one who wanted to get off.

I knocked on the door to the suite Nick was in. I saw his sleepy gray eye through the peephole. I folded my arms. It was two thirty five in the morning, who else would be at his door? He opened it. Was he really carrying a knife? Untrusting jerk.

"You can take over now if you want," I said.

"I would rather sleep, so no thank you," he said with a yawn.

"Look, I know you may not like me, but I _am_ in charge and you _will_ do what I say. Right now I am telling you to go steer the boat. I need to get sleep. It will only be for a couple hours."

"Fine." He closed the door behind him. "By the way, I don't not like you."

"Don't use double negatives," I said accusingly.

He looked amused. "I'm trying to tell you that I actually do like you, I just don't think your suited for this job. Walk with me, talk with me."

"Don't-"

"Tell you what to do? You would be one to use that old cliché." He started walking.

After a few seconds I caught up with him. "You annoy me, you know that, right?"

"I figured I did."

"You just make it hard to hate you."

"I am pretty lovable." He blinked. "Sorry, I'm starting to talk like my brother." He laughed. "I don't get why you want to hate me."

"I just hate all boys. It's a part of my DNA."

"That's why you want to be a Hunter, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"That's also why you assume the reason I don't think you deserve to lead this group is purely based on sexism."

"Isn't it?"

"No, that's what I've been trying to tell you." He stopped. I stopped too. "Are you really close friends with anyone?"

"Yeah. Sol," I said with obviousness.

"Well, not that close, but almost that close."

"Yes, I guess so."

"That's how close I am to my friend, Jerry. He's one of the demigods we're rescuing."

I paused. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

He shrugged. "It really wasn't until now that I've, you know…"

"Told me you think I'm a sucky leader."

"Okay, I need to start finding better words for this." He thought for a second. "I think you would make a great leader for any other mission or quest besides this one."

"Because you have a personal connection to this one."

"Um, no, not rea-"

"I thought Athena thought with her head, not heart."

"Yes, Athena does, but her children don't always do that."

I took the fancy captain hat off. I gave it to Nick. "I hereby proclaim you to be in charge of this rescue mission."

He smiled. "Thanks. But, uh, keep the hat. Looks better on you."

I tensed. I blinked a couple times. "Please tell me that was not a pathetic attempt to hit on me."

"Um, no. I know better than to mess with a future Hunter."

"Good." I twisted my ring a couple times. "Now go steer this boat into our possible death trap."

"On it."

I turned. Soleil was leaning in the doorway of her suite. She was smirking. She folded her arms.

"What?" I asked nervously.

"Nothing, nothing at all," she said and closed the door.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Welcome to the last moments of your life, I thought to myself as I stared out the porthole. We were already in the Sea of Monsters. I had just woken up. It was four in the afternoon. Yet again, I need better sleeping habits. I trudged down the hall. Nick handed me a coffee when I got in the control room. He was arguing with Norman. Soleil was sitting contently in a chair, watching them. She had gotten herself a captain's hat, but hers was gold.

"Scylla will be the easiest to pass by," Norman said.

"No, she won't," Nick countered. "Neither is easier to pass."

"I have a plan."

"Odds are it won't work," Soleil said under her breath.

"It will," Norman said to her.

"Let's hear it," Nick said half-heartedly.

"We take the life boats."

"That'll work well. Then we'll just get snatched up while in smaller boats."

"That's not what I meant. If everyone is out of Scylla's reach, she'll take the whole ship. If we stay hidden she'll take the whole ship. As she's lifting the ship up we jump into the life boats and let them fall."

"Who's to say we'll land upright?"  
>Norman looked at me. "Do you think you can do a little water magic?"<p>

"I guess," I said. "It will be really hard to control this water." The boat was rocking as I spoke. "I could try."

"You're going to have to do more than try." He looked at Nick. "What do you say?"  
>Nick thought for a few seconds. "I'll go find a place where we could hide that would grant easy access to the life boats."<p>

When Nick left Norman did a fist pump. I kept an eye out of the window as I drank my coffee. I could see Scylla far off in the distance. It was not pretty. I thought I saw a scaly creature slip by in front of the boat. After I finished my coffee I went to help Nick. Outside the door I stopped. It is really not like me to eavesdrop, but Soleil and Norman can be entertaining.

"I find it funny how your plan ensures certain death," Soleil said.

"Possible death, not certain death."

"Like there's a difference."

"Would you prefer the certainty of being snatched up by an evil monster and killed or the possibility of living?"

"Possibility of living." I could barely hear her.

"Exactly. And I know you of all people would rather die trying to escape a monster than give in to one."

I could almost hear Soleil sticking her tongue out at him. I walked along the deck. A while later I found Nick securing the life boats with Nico. Nick looked up at me. He squinted against the sun. He walked over.

"Are you sure you can control the water?" he asked. He held up his hands. "And I'm not trying to be sexist. I know how that's always what you think when guys talk to you."

"Yeah, I guess," I said. It was an answer for the question and an agreement with what he had said after.

"If you think it'll be too hard we'll come up with another plan." He checked his watch. He looked at the monster. "In the little time we have."

"I can do it."

"If you want I'll get a giant foam finger with you're name on it."

I laughed. "No thanks."

"Nico! Get Norman and Sol!"

Nico's shoulders sagged. "What if they're trying to kill each other?"

"They aren't," I told him.

"Yeah, that was when you saw them."

"I'll go get them if you want."

"Nah, I'll go." He walked away.

I turned back to Nick. "Everything's already?"

"Yup." He pointed at an awning over a snack counter. "We'll hide under that. When Scylla gets us we have about two seconds to jump into that life boat-" He pointed at the life boat. "-and another two seconds to cut the ropes. Then our lives are in free fall."

"Nice simile."

"Thanks. I spent a while on it."

"I'm sure you did."

Nico came back almost a half hour later with a giant backpack and Soleil and Norman. Soleil and Norman were arguing. I am sure you are almost as shocked as I am. Nico looked ready to shoot himself. I knew he liked them both, but together they were like a second monster he had to face. Actually, we all felt that way. I pulled Soleil under the awning. We all stood in a row, shoulder to shoulder. Soleil closed her eyes.

"Don't close your eyes!" I hissed.

"I'm praying to Apollo," she said. She closed her eyes again. A few seconds later they opened. "We're getting closer."

"No, really?" Norman just had to say on her right.

"Shut up." Her voice was shaking. "I'm nervous."

Norman took her hand. Nico had the easiest view of Scylla. Every few seconds he told us how close we were. The wind picked up. The clouds got darker. The ship was being tossed around crazily. I gripped the counter behind me to keep my balance. Everyone kept their eyes locked on the life boats. We entered Scylla's territory.

She snatched up the whole boat. We dived forward, over the railing, and onto the lifeboat. Nick and Norman cut the ropes since they were closest. I gripped my seat. Nico and Soleil did the same. I pulled Nick down to sit next to me. Norman sat down too. I looked down at the water below.

I tried as hard as I could to get the water to calm down. I could feel it resisting. It was exhausting, painful even, to try to get it to stop roiling below us. I closed my eyes and pictured the water still as glass. It took a lot of power out of me. My head felt like a ten thousand pound rock that was splitting open. I did not dare to open my eyes. I kept picturing the water still.

"It's working," Nick yelled over the rushing wind as we fell.

We had about two seconds left in our free fall. I pictured a kind of cradle appearing out of the water to catch us. I focused completely on that. I gripped the seat so much I could not feel my fingers. I felt us hit the water.

My eyes flew open. Water splashed around us in a huge wave. I forced them down. I was shaking from lack of energy. The cradle I had pictured appeared, but that did not stop the boat from rocking. It rocked to the right at a very dangerous angle. Since there was only Nick and I on our bench it did not affect us. Nico, Soleil, and Norman were on the other. Norman slid off the seat and almost pitched over the edge. Soleil grabbed the back of his shirt. She pulled him back onto the life boat. He fell into the middle. Nick gave a relieved sigh.

I used whatever bit of energy I had left to get the water to propel us as far away as possible. A small wave hit the side of the boat. It sent us skidding across the surface at about fifty miles an hour for the length of three football fields. I could barely keep my eyes open.

"Did you really have to be so violent?" Norman asked Soleil.

"I was not being violent. I was saving your life," Soleil said. Can you guess what her tone was? Annoyed! Shocking, is it not?

"Great job," Nick said to me quietly. "I would never have been able to do that."

I did not even have enough strength to talk. My eyes fluttered closed. For a moment I was lost between being awake and asleep. Then I was in dreamland.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

I woke up. I stared up at the clear blue sky. Wait…why was there clear blue sky? Were we still in the Sea of Monsters? I sat up. Someone tossed me a little green square. It was Nico. "Eat it," he ordered. I did. It tasted like a fudge brownie. I felt much better after eating it. I looked around. We were docked someplace. There were about three or four other ships docked there too. I looked up at the island.

"What is this place?" I asked in awe.

"Looks like some resort island," Nico said.

"Where are the others?"

"Looking for people. You feel okay?"

"Better now. What was that?"

"Ambrosia. It's the food of the gods but demigods can have it. In moderation, of course, or we burn from the inside out."

"I see." I yawned. "How long did it take to get here?"

"A long time. I was able to take two naps before we got here."

"How did I not wake up? You snore like a chainsaw."

He shrugged. "Apparently it's a trait from my dad. My sister never snored."

"You had a sister?"

"Yup. She was a Hunter. She died a couple years back."

"That must have been horrible."

"Yeah, for a while it was. But, you know, she died in honor so it's not as bad as if she had been murdered or something."

Soleil came running down the dock. "People!" she yelled. "We have found people!" She jumped on the life boat. It rocked dangerously. She was completely unfazed by it. "And they rock!"

Nico and I followed her up a long, long, long staircase on the side of the hill. It was made out of stone. Halfway up Nick and Norman were waiting. We all began walking together. I found it funny. We were in the same line as we were under the awning. Nick, me, Soleil, Norman, and Nico. I looked around the place as we got closer to the top. There was one thing I already liked about it: no guys. Soleil seemed a little disappointed. Probably the same reason I was happy. Norman, Nico, and Nick were all looked a little suspicious. I guess the no guys thing was something to be suspicious about. Who knew, though? Maybe a football game was going on.

I heard music. Not music, singing. Someone was singing. The song sounded so old I could not understand it. In the back of my mind I could tell it was not just a song. It was a spell. I could tell from the words, even though I could not understand them. It was a spell meant to lure us in. I froze in my tracks. The others stopped to look at me.

"What's up?" Soleil asked.

The song stopped. "I just…I thought…Never mind."

We began walking again. We arrived at a small all white building. Inside a woman was weaving something. The picture on the cloth seemed to move. Nick and Norman watched it curiously. Nico looked around uncomfortable. Soleil stepped forward. The woman looked up at us. She smiled like she had been expecting us.

"Were you the one singing?" Soleil asked.

"Yes," the woman responded. "Do you like music?"

"Yeah, I love it."

"Are you any good?"

Soleil shrugged. "Eh."

"Eh?" I said. "More like Hades yeah!"

The woman motioned to a piano in the corner. Had that been there before? No, it had not. I was sure of that. "Why don't you play us a piece?"

"Um…I don't know." Soleil really has problems with being modest at the wrong times.

"Please?"

"Uh, I guess."

She went over to the piano. She held her fingers over the keys. I waited for her to start playing. She did not. She looked up nervously. I nodded at her encouragingly. "I don't know what to play," she said. The woman thought for a few seconds. "There is a singer from the United States of America that I like very much. She is a very talented piano player too," the woman said. "Do you know who I'm talking about? Do you know any of her songs?"

Soleil smiled. "Alicia Keys. Yeah, I know her songs."

Soleil began to play. It was "If I Ain't Got You". I knew it was one of her favorite songs to play on the piano. I had not heard her play it in a while though. Nick and Nico listened as she played. They were both pretty impressed. Norman tried the best he could to ignore the fact that she was doing an amazing job.

_"Some people live for the fortune, some people live just for the faith, _

_Some people live for the power, some people live just to play the game,_

_Some people think that the physical things define what' s within,_

_And I've been there before, that life's a bore, so full of the superficial_

_Some people want it all, but I don't want nothing at all,_

_If it ain't you, baby, if I ain't got you baby,_

_Some people want diamond rings, some just want everything,_

_But everything means nothing, if I ain't got you, yeah_

_Some people search for a fountain that promises forever young,_

_Some people need three dozen roses, _

_And that's the only way to prove you love them_

_Hand me the world on a silver platter, and what good would it be_

_No one to share with, no one who truly cares for me"_

She went back to the chorus. People had come to the door by now. They were all listening closely. Soleil did not even notice. She was completely in her own little world of music right now. She ended the song. She looked up. Her face got pink when she saw the people. The woman began clapping. So did I. Nick and Nico did too. I looked back. Norman was leaving the room. Where was he going?

Soleil walked over to join us again. The woman seemed extremely happy. "You have so much talent," she said, "and so much potential, too." Soleil looked down at her sneakers. "Forgive me, I must introduce myself. My name is C. C." We all said hello. C.C. looked us over. She made a tsk-ing sound.

"You all need to get cleaned up," she said. She looked around. "Wait, weren't there five of you?"

"Yeah," Nick said, "but my brother went to find a bathroom."

"Oh, so he'll be coming back?"

"Yes."

"Unless he falls in the toilet," Nico said.

"Then we'll have the girls visit the spa first," C.C. declared. "You'll get the works, all on me."

Soleil smiled broadly. "This will be fun." I could see the skepticism in her eyes. "But, where will the boys go?"

"One of my sons will show them around the island, get them a place to stay, maybe even take them to the sport's bar on the other side of the island. You know how boys are. To them spa means Hades."

She nodded. "Cool. I was just wondering is all."

"Now, one of my attendants will bring you to the spa." A young girl walked in dressed all in white. "And as a new rule, no weapons are allowed in the spa."

Soleil deposited her bow and quiver on the floor by the door. She tossed her knife there too. When I went to take off my ring she shot me a look. "It's not a weapon right now," she whispered, "so just leave it on." We followed the attendant down a long winding path. The spa was a huge modern looking building. At the door the attendant stopped me. She pointed at the ring. "No weapons," she said in a fake kind voice.

"Oh, uh, sorry," I said, "I'll go put it back with Sol's things."

"I'll go with her so she doesn't get lost," Soleil said quickly.

She grabbed my arm and started running. The attendant began running behind us. "Knock her out," she ordered. I willed my ring into a bow. No arrow appeared. I stopped and turned. I hit the attendant on the head with the bow. She crumbled to the ground. Mission accomplished. My bow vanished. We took off running again. "Go around to the window in the back," Soleil whispered to me. I walked around to the back of the building where C.C. had been weaving. I looked in.

Nick, Nico, and Norman were all drinking something. I saw Soleil looking in the door. She took her weapons back. C.C. did not notice either of us. I opened the window enough for me to be able to hear. Suddenly Nick and Nico began shrinking. Where Nick and Nico had been standing were now two small guinea pigs. Norman looked extremely ticked off. C.C. screeched. Nick and Nico tried to run. They were pushed to the back of the room by an invisible force. A cage appeared around them.

"How did you know?" C.C. screamed at Norman.

"I read my sister's written account of her visit to your island, Circe," he said.

She was Circe? The sorceress? I looked at Nick and Nico in guinea pig form in the cage. That was really all the proof I needed.

"Your sister? Hm…the last daughter of Athena I had on this island was a girl named Annabeth."

"That's her."

"You know, she turned down my request to make her a sorceress."

Soleil strolled in. She looked around. "Where's Nick and Nico?" she asked.

"I know you know who I am too," Circe yelled at her.

Soleil shrugged. "Yeah, I do. It's really no biggie. Did you turn them into pigs yet?"

Circe looked at her curiously. "Yes."

"Awesome." She looked at Norman. She flicked his shoulder. "What's the hold-up with this one? Resemble a farm animal too much already?"

"No." Circe walked around Soleil. When she was not looking Soleil slid her knife out of her sleeve. Norman's offended expression vanished. "I knew you had the potential to be a sorceress the second you stepped in this room. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to manipulate people and things to do your every will?"

"Kind of," Soleil said airily. "I'm still waiting for him to be piggified."

"That'll only happen if I drink the potion," Norman said.

"Or if I force you to," Circe said. She walked toward him.

He pulled his sword. Circe made it bend in half with one thought. Soleil stabbed Circe in the leg. Circe fell. Soleil motioned for me to come in. I crawled through the window. Circe looked up at me. Her expression changed. It was almost fearful. I made my bow appear. A silver arrow was on the string. I pointed it right at her head.

"Change them back," I ordered.

"No," she spat.

I was trying to remember who was higher on the food chain. Sorceresses or demigods. Eh, it was worth a try. "I command you to change them back!"

She shook a little. "Fine…"

The cage vanished. Circe did too. Nick and Nico started to transform back into human form. Soleil, Norman, and I left because we had no idea if they would have their clothes on or not. Norman gave Soleil a pat on the back. "Nice job," he said, "but I think you owe me a new sword." She shook her head without saying anything. She purposely looked in the opposite direction of where he was standing. Why was she not talking to him?

Nick and Nico came back out. Norman led us down the steps back to the dock. We wanted to get off that island ASAP. Norman brought us onto a large boat. He started up the engine. I asked him when he found the boat. He said he got the keys for it from one of the attendants after Soleil's song.

"Yeah, after my horrible singing," Soleil said somewhere between an "I-vant-to-kill-you" and an "I-am-going-to-go-cry-now" tone of voice.

Norman steered the boat away from the dock. He stayed silent. Soleil went below to where there was a little mini-fridge, couch, table, chairs, and two bunks. It was a big step up from the life boat. I looked at Norman. He was trying his hardest not to smile. I crossed my arms.

"You and Soleil are really starting to annoy me," I admitted to him. "You both have this weird need _not_ to be friends."

"We're friends," he said. "In a weird way…ish."

"Ish?" Nick walked up next to me. I turned to him. "Is 'ish' a real word?"

"No, but Norm uses it very often," he said.

I turned back to Norman. I mocked surprise. "So does Soleil! See? You have something in common. Now go be nice to her!"

I pushed him toward the stairs to go below deck. Nick waved his hands at Norman to say "move along". Norman went below deck. I heard the sound of the door to the room with the bunks slam shut. I also heard the sound of Nico stop snoring after that. I took over steering the boat. For almost a half hour Nick and I did not say anything to each other.

"There's some food down there," he said. "Want something?"

"Nah, I'm good," I replied. Actually I was really hungry but I did not want to make Nick go get me something to eat. "Thanks for the offer."

"I never thought I would hear that word out of your mouth."

"What word?"

"Thanks."

"Why not? I am very polite."

"Not around guys."

I looked at him sheepishly. "Sorry."

"No problem. I'd rather have you being impolite to me than trying to kill me. Again."

"You're the one who started that sword-fight!"

"No, I did not."

I smiled. "Yeah, you did."

"You made the first move."

"You called me a daughter of Aphrodite."

"That's because I didn't know you and you didn't seem like you knew what you were doing."

"I didn't, but still, talk about jumping to conclusions."

He laughed. "You were playing along. I mean, come on, you called me buff. Would you ever say that if you weren't pretending to be some girly airhead?"

"Maybe."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

I did not answer him. He sat in the driver's seat right behind me. I looked back at him. He stood up. Wow, that was a very, very, very small distance between us. "Eyes on the water, Captain, not on the handsome crew member behind you," Nick teased.

"Don't flatter yourself," I told him. "You aren't that good-looking."

He yawned. "Being a guinea pig has wiped me out. I'll take over steering in a couple hours."

"Okay."

He walked away. I heard him stop. I looked back. He was looking at me. He tilted his head to the side. "What?" I asked. "You're kind of glowing," he said. I looked down at my hand. My skin appeared to be giving off a faint silvery blue glow in the darkness. "It must just be the moon or the water or something," I said hastily. "You look beautiful," Nick said. I stared at him. He went below deck. I looked ahead at the water. All I could really see was my glowing hand on the wheel.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

I sat on the couch next to Nick. Soleil flopped down next to me before Norman could sit down. Nico was steering the boat right now. Norman shot her a death glare before spinning one of the chairs around and sitting down. Soleil kicked her feet up on the low table. We all sat in a tired silence for a few minutes. It was our second day on the new boat. There had been a pretty good supply of food. We still had enough left for about a week. The thing that was bringing us all down was that there had been absolutely no sign of the missing demigods.

"Sol, why can't you just have a dream that tells us where they are?" Norman asked. "You're dad _is_ the god of foreseeing."

"Sorry that I can't have more of a hold on my dreams," Soleil retorted.

"We're probably already too late," Nick said. "It was days ago that Chiron got that Iris-message and they were barely alive then."

"They could still be alive," I said optimistically. "Who knows? We might find them soon."

Norman rubbed his temples. "Anyone want a water or something?" he asked, getting up. He opened the fridge.

"I'll have one of those juice things," Soleil said.

"Water," Nick and I said at the same time.

Norman tossed us waters. He handed Soleil the juice. He seemed the most tired out of all of us. We fell back into silence. Nick went into the little room where the two bunks are. I went back up above deck. It was around midnight. I looked up at the sky. My favorite constellation caught my eye. The Hunter. It was the perfect outline of a young girl with a bow and arrow. I sat down in the seat next to the driver's seat.

"Do you think I would make a good Hunter?" I asked Nico out of the blue.

"Are you sure you aren't already one?" he asked.

I smiled. "Maybe I could join the Hunt. That would be so awesome."

"I guess my sister liked it. Lady Artemis seemed okay, even though she was a bit hostile to me." He glanced at me. "You remind me of the typical Hunter, actually. Good archer, good fighter, boy-hater."

"I don't hate all boys. You're eh."

"So you don't hate a couple boys. That's pretty typical of a Hunter, too. Like my sister. She liked me, obviously, and she liked you're brother and Grover."

"Who's Grover?"

"Satyr. Nice guy. Loves aluminum. Can't play his reed pipes to save someone's life. Literally."

"Satyrs are the half-donkey things, right?"

"Half-goat people. They are very picky about that. They'll kick you if you call them half-donkeys. Have you ever been kicked by a half-goat person?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"I highly do not recommend it."

Soleil got a can of ravioli from the cabinet. She started to heat it up in the small microwave. She wished she had her iPod. She had nothing to do. She leaned against the counter. Norman had moved from the chair to the couch. He was not lying down but looked ready to fall asleep. Soleil took her ravioli out of the microwave. She got a fork and sat next to Norman. She brought her legs up under her.

"Why are you so tired?" she asked.

"Because someone," he looked at her purposely, "always gets up at five every morning, no matter when they fell asleep."

"Sorry." It was a habit for her to wake up early.

He smiled tiredly. He hit her knee. "I was kidding. I've just been thinking a lot lately."

She gasped. "You were thinking?"

"Ha-ha, so funny. I've been trying to figure out the coordinates of certain islands. If I know the coordinates of the dangerous ones then we can steer around them."

"How would that help if wherever there isn't a dangerous island there's a dangerous sea creature waiting below to attack us?"

"I would rather take on the sea creature than a whole flock of bloodthirsty sheep and their Cyclops monster."

"Maybe. Do you always try to find the easy way out?"

"No, but usually the easy way out is the safe way out. And in this case I want the safest way out. For everyone."

"So you aren't an emotionless idiot?"

He laughed quietly. "No, and I never was. That was just your interpretation of my rudeness."

"You're admitting you've been rude to me?"

"Yes, and I'm sorry."

"Are you also sorry for being overly annoying?"

"I have not been overly annoying. Occasionally I can be annoying. And you're not too much better."

She put her ravioli down. "I resent that! I am perfectly unannoying!"

"Unannoying isn't a word."

"In my world it is."

He smiled again. "I'm sure it is."

Soleil looked at him for a second. "Go get some rest."

"Fine, mother." He went to stand up.

"Wait." Soleil pulled him back.

Norman looked at her. "Yes?"

"Um…never mind."

Norman walked toward the door. He turned back. "I should have said this before, but you did a really good job on Circe's island when you sang," he said.

"Eh," Soleil replied. "I could have done better."

"I doubt it."

Soleil crossed her arms. She scowled. "Thanks, really."

"I doubt it because you have the best voice I've ever heard. It kind of reminds me of what gold would sound like."

"Gold? Okay, now you're pushing it."

"I'm just telling the truth." He opened the door. "Goodnight, Soleil."

She smiled. "'Night, Norm."

She picked up her ravioli and began to eat it. Tess walked down the steps. She looked at Soleil for a few seconds before asking, "Why do you look so happy?". "Um, this ravioli is delicious," Soleil responded. "I thought I heard you and Norm talking. I was expecting you to be tearing his head off." Soleil took another bite of her ravioli. She laughed very quietly. "Me too, Tess, me too."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

I handed the steering over to Nick. Soleil was watching the water over the side of the boat. She seemed worried. I walked over next to her. I asked her what was wrong. She tried to say it was nothing, but I knew her too well to think it really was nothing. My guess was it involved one of two things: Norman or a dream. Which was more lethal? I have no idea. I was guessing that in this case the dream would probably be more lethal. The night before I had gone down below after I heard her talking to Norman and she was oddly happy. Maybe they were finally getting along.

I heard a shout from below. In a second Soleil had her bow at the ready. Nico ran above with his sword drawn. Norman followed up behind him. He looked at Soleil. "Looks like your little sea monster has arrived," he said as lightly as he could. Nick stayed at the wheel. I made my bow appear. Two silver arrows appeared. I watched as a purple scaly back went by the side of our boat.

It just passed. That was all it did. Everyone put their weapons away. Soleil still held her bow tightly. She started talking with Nico about random things while I co-captained with Nick. He looked at the map next to him. He mumbled a couple words before writing something on the map. He was looking it over with extreme concentration that I did not want to break so I did not ask him what he had just written.

I was still waiting to ask Nick what he had done when the boat rocked precariously. Well that broke his concentration. A wave splashed over the side. It drenched Soleil and Nico. Norman came above deck again. The purple sea serpent rose out of the water. Soleil shot it with three arrows at once. They buried under its scales. It still dived down. I made my bow appear. The two silver arrows appeared again. Nico managed to get a good swing at the serpent as it plunged back into the water. The boat rocked again. Soleil, Nico, and Norman fell to their knees. I tumbled sideways. Nick caught me before I fell.

The sea serpent rose again. I jumped onto the deck, next to Soleil. I shot the two arrows. They hit the serpent right in the eyes. It wailed metallically. I shot the next arrow that appeared on my string right into its mouth. It started to gag. I kept shooting the arrows as they appeared on my string. The sea serpent swayed dangerously. I shot five at its stomach. They were right in a row, like silver buttons. It began to fall.

Soleil, Nico, and Norman had already gotten off the deck and were standing near the wheel. The serpent fell right toward me. My feet felt like they were one hundred pound rocks stuck to the ground with gorilla glue. In seconds the serpent would crush me. I tried to move. All that happened was that my bow vanished. I held my hands over my head. I do not know why I did it, but at the time I guess I had a stupid idea that I could hold the serpent up.

Nick pulled me against him. He held his sword over his head with both hands. It went right through the serpent. Nick held it above him on the sword for the few seconds before it became green monster goop that fell on us. Nick was covering me enough so that he got the worst of it. I looked up at him.

"Sorry," I said.

"Why?" He flicked some monster goop off his hands.

"For making you do that. I should have moved."

He smiled. "Tess, it's fine."

"No, it's not. I mean, now we're both covered in monster…icky stuff. Especially you."

"I don't mind. It was worth it. Besides, now I can do this." He turned and held out his arms. "C'mere, bro!"

Norman pushed Soleil in front of him. Nick laughed. He went below. I heard the sound of the shower in the small bathroom start. Nick came back up less than fifteen minutes later, totally un-monster icky stuff-ified. I took a shower next. The hardest part was getting it out of my long hair.

Soleil was on the couch when I walked out. I got a bottle of water from the fridge. I sat in one of the chairs. "You knew that attack was coming, didn't you?" I asked.

"Eh," she replied. "I just had a dream about a purple sea serpent."

"That's cool that you're dreams are kind of like glimpses of the future."

She laughed. "Yeah, right! I also had a dream I kissed Norman. That, my friend, is not a glimpse of the future, but a nightmare."

I looked at the book on the table. "'Greek Myths'." I looked at Soleil. "Which one are you on?"

"The Apollo versus Python one." She looked at the book. "It was so awesome that my dad was able to kill Python. I mean, he was like really powerful. I can not even imagine what it would be like to fight that thing."

"You could probably take it on."

She shrugged. "Yeah, maybe if I trained every day of my life for the next twenty years and only ate protein drinks and used steroids I could." She laughed. "Oh, whatever. I'm just happy that things not around any more."

"Me too."

I got another bottle of water from the fridge before going above deck. Nick was steering again. Norman and Nico looked at Nick, at me, back at Nick, then went below. I handed Nick the water.

"Thanks," I said. I realized then I had not said it earlier. "I really appreciate it."

Nick shrugged. "I'd rather have you alive than squashed," he said.

"Me, too." I took a sip of my water. My stomach got butterflies before I asked, "Did you really mean it?"

"Yes, I really did mean I would rather have you alive." He laughed. "What kind of question was that?"

"You called me beautiful the other night."

"Uh, did I? Maybe you were, um, hearing things." He did not look at me.

"You suck at lying."

"I know. Look, I'm sorry, it just kind of came out. Please don't hurt me." He held his hands up.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

"I promise I won't say it again and-Wait, what? You're not going to hurt me? But-…" He looked ahead again. "You confuse me, you know that?"

"That's because I'm a girl and you're a guy. If you understood me the world would start rotating in the opposite direction."

"True."

For a couple hours we talked about random things. Nick told me about his years at Camp. I told him about Furrows. He told me about his little sister, Nicolette, too. She was completely related to him. Same dad and mom. It was rare for gods to have more than one or two children with the same people. We were talking about the pegasi when Soleil came running above. She pushed Nick and me out of the way. She squinted up ahead. "Land!" she yelled. "I knew it! Norm, you owe me twenty bucks as soon as we get back to camp!" She smiled at me. "Maybe I do have glimpses of the future."

"You saw land in a dream?" I looked ahead. I could just barely make out the outline of a small island. "What's on it?"

"Nothing. Though, I think I saw some pieces of wood, which means that the missing demigods could be there." She clapped. "I need to go get my first aid kit, just in case."

I looked at Nick. He was smiling. I sat in the chair behind me. Nick made the boat go as fast as it could. We created a big wake behind us in the dark water. Everyone crowded around the wheel as we got closer. Once we got close enough Nick cut the engine. Norman, Nick, Nico, Soleil, and I pulled the boat onto the sand. We tied the ropes to some large rocks we found. We got our backpacks off the boat and began searching the whole island.

We did not see anything very unusual. It was just a deserted island. It was completely flat. There was only forest and beach. Norman and Nick walked the whole perimeter of the island. They found no wood. Soleil was disappointed by the news. I helped her set up the two tents. We created our own little fire pit. Nick fashioned his own fishing rod. He went to a pool on the other side of the island where he had seen some fish.

"We'll eat like kings, tonight, eh?" Nico said as he started the fire.

"Oh yeah," I said, rolling my eyes.

Nick came back with three fish. Nico helped him filet them. They were done cooking before it got too dark. Soleil and I had first watch. We played a game where you had to say the name of something that began with the last letter of the word the other person had just said.

"Orange," I said.

"Eggs," Soleil said.

"Sausage."

"Emus."

"Sunday."

"Yellow."

"Wall."

"Lake."

"Electric."

"Card."

"Dung."

"Gun."

"Nick."

"No names allowed."

"I meant like a scratch or a cut or something."

"Yeah, sure. It had nothing to do with the fact that he's on your mind more than you want him to be."

"Uh, no," I lied. "I really meant a scratch or cut."

"Whatever. Our time is up." She unzipped the door to the boys' tent. She stepped in. Nico yelled at her to get out. She came back out, dragging Norman by the ear. "Let any monsters near us and I'll kill you," she said seriously. She smiled broadly. "Happy guarding."

She went into the tent. Nico stumbled out of the boys' tent in a daze. He looked like he could really use a coffee. Norman smacked him on the back of the head.

"What was that for?" Nico groaned.

"You awake?" Norman asked.

"Now, yes, thank you very much."

"No problemo."

I crawled into my tent. Soleil was already asleep. Lucky duck. It would take me a couple hours before I would fall asleep. I was still awake when it was my turn to go on watch again with Nick. We talked about random things again. It was pretty fun, actually. At dawn Soleil and Nico took over. That was when I finally fell asleep.

I woke up in mid-morning. Nick and Norman were looking at a map, trying to figure out where we were. Nico was eating a fish. I took some for myself. Eating fish for breakfast felt weird, but it tasted pretty good. It was kind of bland. Needed salt. I wondered if maybe there were some spices on the island. Maybe the trees had a special sap that tasted good. They just looked like regular palm trees. In the middle of the island was a deep forest, though. I recognized a couple maple trees. It really was not the time of year to be getting syrup from maple trees. If we had come a couple months earlier, maybe we-I realized who was missing.

"Where's Sol?" I asked.

"I thought she went back into the tent after our watch," Nico said. "Isn't she sleeping?"

"It's too late for her," Norman said. He looked at Nick. "Did you see her?"

"No. You were the first one up after Nico got off watch."

We all looked at each other for a few seconds. At the same time we started running toward the beach. I yelled Soleil's name. When we made it to the beach the first thing I was the giant whirlpool.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The second thing I saw was Soleil being sucked into the whirlpool. She was trying as best she could to swim toward the shore. I tried to get the whirlpool to stop. It was too powerful. Even if I did stop it, Soleil was drowning. Norman jumped into the water just as I was about to turn and scream at one of the boys to get their butt into the water to help her.

I went back to focusing on the whirlpool. The attempt to make the water calm was not working. I tried to will the water around it to go in the opposite direction. It helped out a lot. The whirlpool was starting to slow down. I kept the water going in the opposite direction as Norman got Soleil and swam her back to the shore. Once they were a safe distance away I gave up on the whirlpool. I ran into the water. I tried to help carry Soleil back onto the shore but Norman had it.

He set her down on the sand. She was unconscious. She was not breathing. I looked at Norman.

"Do you know-"

"I swear, if you say mouth to mouth resuscitation-"

"Yes, that. Do you know it?"

Yes, he did, apparently. After the first try Soleil started spitting water out on the ground. She hacked up more salt water than there is in a fish tank. Maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but you get my point. She started shaking.

"N-next time your dad wants to flush the toilet, tell him to do it in the Pacific," she said to me. Suddenly she sat up. She looked at Norman. "You did _not_."

"What?" he asked.

"You know perfectly well what."

He smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I do know what. And I'm not telling you."

Soleil looked at me. "Did he?"

"I am not in the position to answer that," I replied.

Soleil stood up. She stamped her foot. She began shaking again. Norman gave her his sweatshirt. She was so thrilled about that. I stood up too. We all walked back to our camp. Soleil wrung out her hair on the ground.

"What were you doing at the beach?" I asked.

"Just walking," she responded.

"You don't get sucked into a whirlpool while just walking on a beach."

She took a deep breath. "I was walking on the beach when I thought I saw a small ship. It was hard to see so I walked out into the ocean a ways to get a better view. I slipped and then the whirlpool formed and I started being sucked in."

"Did you get a closer look at the ship?" Nico asked.

"Yes. It was not even a whole ship. And I think some people were on it." She was talking very quietly.

"What happened to the ship?"

She hesitated a long time. "It got sucked into the whirlpool."

Everyone stared at her. "It might not have been theirs," I said.

"It had to have been," Nick said. "We should leave."

"But, what if it's not their ship?"

"Then we do what? Keep searching? And if it was their ship, which it definitely was, we'll be traveling for who knows how much longer. What if another one of us almost dies? What if our ship is the one sucked up by the whirlpool next time? Or worse?"

"Why are you giving up so easily?"

"I'm not giving up easily. I just know that was their ship. It's a gut feeling."

"Fine," I consented. "I guess we'll leave."

"Glad you approve, because it really didn't matter if you did or not."

"Excuse me?"

"You gave me the role of leader of this mission. I'm the one that makes the choices."

"I did that out of sympathy. Right now I really wish I could take it back."

"Well it's too late, isn't now, Captain?"

He ordered Nico and me to take down the tents. Norman and Soleil helped get things ready on the boat. I kicked some of the ashes in the empty fire pit. I waited for Nico to finish taking apart the boys' tent. He was having a lot of difficulty. I was getting really annoyed. I pushed him away. I took apart the tent and put it away angrily.

"Someone's PMS-ing," Nico muttered.

I backhanded him across the face. He grabbed his jaw. "Um,_ OW_!" he said. I picked up my backpack. I walked back to the boat with a complaining Nico. On the boat he put an ice pack on his jaw. I had not him that hard. Well, I had, but he did not have to be such a baby about it. He just kept complaining. Something told me he was an annoying whiney kid when he was younger. Soleil was getting really annoyed too. Finally she yanked the ice pack away from him. "Man up!" she said to him before putting the ice pack back. Norman laughed. Nico went above deck.

We found a deck of cards in one of the cabinets. Soleil and I began to play. I felt the boat shift into its top speed. After our second round of war, Soleil went to bed. I asked Nico, who had apparently forgiven me after a suspiciously long time above deck, if he wanted to play. Norman joined in too. The game had become tedious and boring after the first twenty minutes of playing with Soleil but I had nothing else to do.

Nico fell asleep on the floor in the middle of the game. I have noticed that boy needs a lot of sleep. I had gotten kind of used to his snoring. Emphasis on the _kind of_. Norman threw his cards on the table. "I'm done," he said. I put the cards back in the box. I put them away in the cabinet. I turned to face Norman.

"Thanks for helping save Soleil," I said.

He shrugged. "I'd rather have her alive than waterlogged."

It reminded of when Nick said he would rather have me alive than squashed. "We all would."

I went up to talk to Nick. He was practically falling asleep at the wheel. I rushed over and shook him to wake him up. "No sleeping behind the wheel," I told him. He fell onto the seat. "I'm sorry for getting mad at you earlier," he said. I nodded to accept his apology. I should probably have apologized for being equally angry at him, but I kept it to myself. I knew he knew I was sorry.

"I really hope we don't encounter any other monsters and crap," I admitted.

"Me too, but there is very little guarantee that will happen," Nick said.

"What other monsters are there here?"

"Who knows?"

I looked back at him a few seconds later. He was asleep. His bangs fell to one side of his forehead.

He has a big forehead.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

I squinted against the blinding sun through the parting clouds. I could just barely see something up ahead. I felt the wind pick up speed. I put my hand over my eyes. "Guys!" I yelled. "Up here! Now!"

Everyone ran up next to me. Nick and Norman looked ahead, then at each other. They nodded. "It's Ceto," Norman said.

"Who-oh?" Soleil asked.

"Ceto," Nick said. "She is the monster goddess of the dangers of the water. She is the mother of the Gorgons, the Graea, and many other monsters."

"Why is she here?" I asked. "Is she blocking our path? Can we get by her?"

"She's blocking our path all right. She's a giant wall of water."

"Can we go around her?"

Nick grabbed the wheel. He veered to the left. I saw the thing in the distance spread to the left. "No."

"What can we do?" Nico asked.

"We could try challenging her," Norman suggested. "Gods hardly ever turn down challenges."

"Any other suggestions?" Soleil asked, looking around. No one said anything. No one had any other ideas. "Alrighty, so we're challenging a god."

"No, not all of us," Nick said. "Only one of us can." He looked at Norman. "You or me, buddy?"

"Me," Norman said. "They'll need the one with the bigger brain if I die."

"I'd go," Nico said, "but I'm not much of a swordsman."

"Me too," I said. "I'm only okay." I looked at Norman. "You better be as good as they say you are."

He nodded. He walked to the front of the boat. We got closer to the giant wall of water. I could see images in the water. Ships crashing into rocks, serpents biting them in half. I looked higher to see the body of a young woman at the top of the wall. We stopped. We threw our anchor down. Norman took a deep breath with his hand on his sword.

"I-" he began.

"I challenge you to a duel," Soleil said, skipping to the front of the boat, twirling her knife carelessly.

Norman stared at her, wide-eyed. "Soleil! Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"Kinda, sorta, not really."

The woman in the water rushed down through the air, leaving a trail of bubbles behind her. She hovered in front of Soleil. "Are you sure, demigod?"

"Yeah, I guess. Oh! How about we make a bet? I win, we pass through like that." She snapped. "You win and you get to swallow us in your big wall of water."

"SOLEIL!" Everyone yelled at once.

"Very well," Ceto said. She looked around. "This is not a proper dueling spot."

Soleil was engulfed in water before vanishing. My jaw dangled open. Everyone stared at the spot where Soleil had stood. I began wringing my hands. I thought I would start hyperventilating. My best friend had just basically committed suicide. And now we would all die along with her. I mean, I had faith in Soleil's fighting abilities against a monster or another demigod, but not a goddess. Especially one who had "danger" in her job description.

Norman and Nico went below deck. They were probably gathering all the things they had that they wanted with them when they got swallowed up my Ceto's "big wall of water". Wait a second…I turned to Nick. He was pressing his fingertips against his temples. I smirked.

"Why so worried?" I asked.

"Um, we're all only facing certain _death_," he said.

I shook my head. "Not exactly. I mean, I know Soleil can be a bit of a dumb blond sometimes, but just now wasn't she acting a bit _too _stupid?"

"She was probably just nervous."

I sighed. He was not getting it. I went below. Nico was gathering some things and putting them in his backpack. Norman looked like he was going through his backpack. He took something out. He flopped onto the couch with the book. Nico stared at him incredulously.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Enhancing my vocabulary and stimulating brain cells," Norman responded. He opened the book. "Why are you packing?"

"Because I have a crazy idea I might be able to survive this, and if I do, I want to be prepared."

"Survive what? We'll get by perfectly fine."

Nico stared at him again. "Aren't you supposed to be 'stimulating brain cells'?"

"Soleil thinks outside the box. I know why she did what she did. Try to think like Soleil here for a second. If she is off fighting Ceto, we are…"

"Going to die a slow, soggy death," Nico stated.

"Just give it some time to sink in. Five…four…three…two…one." Norman pointed at me.

"If she is off fighting Ceto, we are…" I started. Come on, Tess, think like Soleil. Think like Soleil. Think like Soleil. "I've got nothing."

Norman groaned. He tossed the book to the side. He went above deck. I looked at Nico. He shrugged. We followed. Norman was pulling up the anchor.

"What are you doing?" I cried.

"Pulling up the anchor," Norman replied.

"Why?"

He pointed at the wall of water. "Unattended."

"Yeah, and?" Wait…think like Soleil. "You are kidding me, right?"

"Nope."

"It won't work. We'll die for sure."

"It's either this or we wait for the outcome of the fight." He checked his watch. "Which will be very soon probably."

"What's going on?" Nick and Nico asked at once.

I turned. "Think like Soleil."

"Oh, no," Nick said.

"If we survive this, get used to saying that about what Sol does."

Norman finished picking up the anchor. Nick turned on the engine. We probably only had seconds to do this. Nick let me steer. I veered to the right and went forward. The wall of water did not move to block us. Norman gave out a cheer. I sped the boat up a little bit. We were almost to the wall when it started to move. I knew I should have gone farther to the right. I put the boat at full speed. Everyone swayed forward then back as we took off.

We just missed the wall. I was afraid it would become a wave so I tried to make the boat go faster. "Wait!" Norman shouted. He ran up behind me and cut the engine completely. I turned to shout at him. He pointed at the wall. I turned. Ceto was back at the top of the wall. Only now she had Soleil right next to her. Soleil was unconscious. She had cuts on her face and arms. I noticed a patch of blood on her shirt that was slowly growing bigger.

"You cheated," Ceto said in her smooth voice. "Now you're little friend will have to pay the price." Ceto snapped her fingers. Soleil woke up. She tried to hold her breath. "Enjoy watching her drown. I will."

My bow appeared in my hand almost instantly. A single silver arrow appeared. Ceto was too fixated on watching Soleil start drowning. I did not even know if my arrow would go that far. I did not care. No one tries to kill my best friend. I let go of the string. The arrow zipped through the air like a bullet. Ceto just had enough time to make a surprised face before the arrow hit her chest.

She disappeared with the wall of water. Soleil began to fall. I started the engine again. I fishtailed and sped toward where she was falling. My stomach twisted fearfully. I was afraid we would not make it in time. And if we did, she would just crash onto the boat from almost fifty feet in the air. I pushed the boat to go faster.

She fell right onto the deck. Norman caught her…ish. They both fell to the deck. It looked painful. Soleil stumbled to the side of the boat. She began puking. I pushed Nick to the wheel. I ran over. I held her hair back while she seemed to puke out everything she had ever eaten. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve. She started to wring out her hair again.

"I swear, if I almost drown again I am taking every one of you with me," she said. "Because there is no way I am dying looking like a wet rat without all of you looking the same."

Leave it to Soleil to let almost dying be something of non-importance. She looked at Norman. "Get the smile off your face," she told him. I hugged her. She hugged me back with the arm that did not have the puke on the sleeve. She hurried off to take a shower. I looked a Norman.

"Nice job," I said.

He shrugged. "No biggie."

"Dude, you saved her life," Nico said. "That's a huge biggie."

"That was kind of redundant."

"I don't care. You got the point."

"No, not really. I was too busy correcting your redundancy."  
>Somehow that led them to talk about chariots. Yeah, I have no idea how that happened. I went below. When Soleil was done with her shower she got a juice from the fridge. She sat next to me. "You don't feel like this rescue mission was a big waste of time, do you?" she asked.<p>

"No, not at all," I said. "It's been very…interesting."

"And scary, and fun, and tiring, and-"

"That's why I said interesting. Sums up all of that."

"Yeah, kinda. I heard you talking to Nico about the Hunt a couple times."

I pulled my legs up under me. "Yeah, his sister was a Hunter and he knows a girl in it. Actually, she's the lieutenant."

"Awesome. Are you thinking about joining?"

"Not really. I really only could join if I ran into the Hunt somewhere. That's probably never going to happen."

"Never know."

"Would you join the Hunt if you had the chance?"  
>Soleil laughed. "Nah. The no-boys policy kind of puts a damper on the whole thing."<p>

"You would have a problem with that," Norman said from the stairway. When had he gotten there?

She ignored him. "It would be worth it, though," I said.

"That's what you think. You don't get along that well with guys."

"It goes both ways."

"Not with all of them. I mean, you get along with these guys."

"Yeah, I know."

"Especially Nick…"

"Hm?"

"I just think you should go talk to Nick."

"Why?"

"I want to talk to Norman."

"You _want_ to talk to Norman?"

"Yes. Why does that surprise you?"

I rolled my eyes. "No reason, Sol, no reason at all."

I headed for the stairs. "Did you slip something in that juice?" I asked Norman as I passed.

"Quite possibly," he replied.

"If she dies I blame you."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Soleil threw her juice away. She looked for a snack bar in the cabinets. She considered getting the granola bar but sometimes they made her stomach feel weird. She did not like the flavor of NutriGrain there was. She settled for the Cheerio bar. Norman cleared his throat from his seat on the stairs. She turned.

"Oh, yeah, uh, thanks," she said.

"That was what you wanted to say to me? Just thanks?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He shrugged. "I shouldn't have been expecting something any better. How many of those Cheerio bars are there left?"

"One."

"This is just my lucky day."

Soleil moved to the side as Norman got the bar from the cabinet. They stood there eating the bars for a few minutes.

"So, uh, you don't like the Hunt?" Norman asked.

"No, I like it. It seems cool," Soleil responded. "It's just the no-boys thing."

"Why? Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Don't try to make a joke out of that. I have had many suitors and I broke up with my last boyfriend only a week before I came to Camp Half-blood."

"I wasn't trying to make a joke out of it. Wait…never mind, yeah, I was."

Soleil hit his arm. "Jerk."

"That's Mr. Jerk, to you."

Soleil finished her Cheerio bar. "So, how about you?"

"How about me what?"

"Don't act dumb. Oh, you might not be acting, though."

"I've had one girlfriend."

"Ohhh, what was her name?"

"Delilah. She was a daughter of Nemesis."

"That must have been an interesting relationship."

"Yeah. She broke all my weapons after we broke up."

Soleil laughed against her will. Well, she tried to convince herself it was against her will. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh."

Norman finished his snack. "No, it was pretty funny. She went on a rampage while I was at the arena and broke all my weapons. I think Nick got it on video."

"Now I really want to watch it."

"I'll go ask Nick if he still has it. I'll show it to you when we get back to camp." He began to walk away.

Soleil grabbed his hand and pulled him back. "No, don't go up there. Nick and Tess are talking."

"Nico's up there."

"No, he's sleeping. What else would he be doing? That boy sleeps more than a cat."

"True. And why can't I go? I just need to ask him one little-"

"No!"

"You're very demanding and bossy, you know that?"

"Only around certain people."

"I feel so honored, really."

"You should." Soleil realized she was still holding Norman's hand. She pulled her hand away slowly. "Oh, I have a question about a myth I was reading a day or two ago. It kind of confused me."

"Uh, what myth was it?"

"Crap, now I forget the name. Hang on."

She went into the bunk room. She began searching through her backpack under one of the bunks. Nico rolled over. He opened his eyes. "Can't you just tell him you love him already?" he asked. "It's getting really tiring." "Ah, here it is," Soleil said when she got the book. She smacked Nico on the head with it. He rolled back over with a groan. Soleil went back out. She sat on the couch. She began flipping through the pages. Norman sat next to her.

"Actually, I think I was just reading one of the names wrong," she said. "I'm sure Nick and Tess are done talking. You can probably go up now."

"'Kay, just let me know if you have a question. I'm not as stupid as you think."

Her eyes widened. "You're stupider?"

"Not exactly."

He went up the stairs. Soleil threw the book to the side. She leaned her head on her hands. For someone who had almost drowned for the second time in about so many days, she had serious confrontation problems.

I sat in the second chair. I still could not believe Soleil had actually wanted to talk to Norman alone. Maybe she just wanted to thank him. I did not see how Soleil could not have done that while I was around. I looked at Nick. Wait, she had told me to go talk to him so she could talk to Norman alone. She thought…crap. She had tricked me. I stood up.

"Can't sit still?" Nick asked.

Shoot, now he was trying to make conversation. Why was I worrying about that? It was just Nick. "No, I'm fine," I replied. I tried to decide whether to go back below or stay where I was.

"Are you glad we're going back to camp?"

"Yeah. I just hope we don't run into any more monsters." Stay or go? Decide!

"We probably won't. I think we only have a day or two left before we're out of this place."

"Awesome." I looked at Nick again. I decided to stay. "So, are these Capture the Flag games as fun as Nico and Norman say?"

"No, they're even more fun than they say. Especially if you win."

"I assume your cabin wins a lot."

"Yeah, we do. That's because we always get the good cabins first. Ares if they aren't who we're up against, Apollo, your brother, Hermes, and a lot of the others."

"Now I'm excited for my first game."

"But, the Hunters always beat us when they have to visit. Even if every camper plays, we always lose."

"Yeah, I guess they would be good." I really did not want to talk about the Hunt with Nick right now.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just thinking." I wanted to do something that would help get my mind off Nick and the Hunt. "Can I drive?"

"Of course, Captain."

I took over steering. Nick stayed right behind me. "You think I suddenly don't know how to drive a boat?"

There was no response. For a few minutes I drove in silence. I heard Soleil and Norman's muffled voices below. I thought I heard someone get hit by something. I tried to not acknowledge that Nick was behind me. That was way harder than I thought or wanted it to be. I needed to talk to him. I knew that much. I just did not know what I needed to talk to him about.

I stepped to the side. Nick took the wheel with one hand. He put his other arm around me and pulled me close to him. Gods, why did I like being close to him?

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

"You seemed upset," he said. "I didn't like seeing you upset."

"Why?"

"You sound like a toddler. Speaking of toddlers, I have this little baby cousin and it's so funny because he-"

"Don't avoid the subject, Nick."

His arm slipped away from my waist. "Like you've been for the whole gods damn rescue mission?"

"I haven't been-"

"Yes, you have, Tess."

"I didn't even know until a little while ago."

He looked me in the eye. "Know what?"

"That I…and you…"

"Being vague is Nico's thing."

"I didn't know I-"

"Hey, Nick!" Norman yelled as he ran up from below. "Do you still have that video of Delilah destroying my weapons? Soleil wants to watch it when we get back to camp."

Nick looked at his brother. "I think so."

"Awesome." He looked at me. "Are you glowing?"

I looked down at my hand. It was starting to glow as it got darker. "No. You should really get your eyes checked," I said.

"You two sound upset."

"I'm not," Nick said. He looked at me. "I don't know if she is."

"I'm fine," I lied. "I'm just going to go talk to Soleil."

I went below. Soleil was sitting on the couch. Her mythology book was on the table. I asked if I could read it. She said fine. I opened it up. It had a list of all the gods and goddesses at the front. I began to read about them. They had a picture every now and then. They showed a depiction of the Hunt.

"I'm joining the Hunt," I said with finality.

Soleil looked over my shoulder. She did not argue at all. "She looks like you," she said.

"The Hunter?" The Hunter in the picture had long blond hair and green eyes.

"No." Soleil pointed to the person at the head of the group. "Artemis."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"What's going on?" Soleil yelled, running onto the deck with Nico right behind her.

"There's a tornado!" I yelled back.

"Can tornados even form on water?"

"Now they can!"

I looked ahead. The twister was getting closer. There was no way we could avoid it. It was too late to change course. It had just appeared out of nowhere. We were heading right for it. Nick yelled at us all to get below. We followed his directions. He closed the hatch. We all went into the bunk room. Soleil and I sat on one. Norman and Nico sat on the other. Nick leaned against the wall. We held our backpacks close.

"Get ready," Nick whispered.

"What do you think we're doing?" Nico asked.

You had to appreciate his sarcastic humor, even if a freakish water tornado was heading right for us. Soleil hooked her arm around mine. We all held onto the bottom of the bunks. I planted my feet on the ground as firmly as I could. Everyone closed their eyes, I think. I know I did.

After a few minutes we heard the wind die down. We waited. It completely died. Everyone let out the breath they had been holding.

"It must have been a fluke," Norman said.

Everyone stretched and relaxed a little. "We can get out of this closet now, right?" Soleil asked.

"Yup," Nick replied. "Just-"

The boat was flung to the side. Everyone was tossed in that direction. Nick caught me before I fell. Soleil was catapulted onto the floor. Nico and Norman smacked their heads on the wall. The wind started up again, louder than before. The boat was thrown in the opposite direction. I fell back on the bunk. Nick looked at me quickly.

Then we were caught up in the tornado. I hung onto the edge of the bunk for dear life. We spun around and around and around at a speed that made me want to puke. Soleil clung to the knob of the door and her backpack. I closed my eyes. I heard a loud bang. I opened my eyes. A part of the wall above Nico and Norman had come off. Norman fell to the floor. Soleil pulled him next to her.

We flipped over two times in a row. I was ready to chop my head off. I almost slid off the bunk. Yet again Nick stopped me from falling. He fell onto the bunk the next time we flipped. I heard the sound of protesting metal. He pushed my head down. A section of the wall above us came out. My skin was stinging from the wind. It was raining too. That stung even more.

The boat jerked forward suddenly. I fell sideways. My head hit the edge of the bunk. I blacked out as someone screamed.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

I opened my right eye first. Slowly I opened both eyes. I sat up. I was lying on half of the bunk. My backpack was missing. I looked around. The water was clear blue. I stood up. I turned. There was a row of palm trees behind me. I thought I heard the distant sound of cars on a highway. It was probably somewhere around dawn.

Then I saw the all black lump down the beach. I ran toward it. My knee hurt but I kept running. Nico was holding onto a piece of wall. I shook him until he came back to consciousness. He glared at me. "What?" he asked. He had a bloody cut on his forehead. His wrist looked really swollen. I realized I had a gash on my shoulder. After I noticed it I felt the pain. I also tasted some dried blood on my lip.

"Back away from my patient!"

I looked up. Soleil tossed her backpack on the ground. She took out her first-aid kit. In a minute Nico's cut was cleaned and bandaged. Soleil gave him some ambrosia. She wrapped his wrist. She looked at me. She made me sit down. Almost as quickly as she had taken care of Nico's cut on his forehead she took care of the one on my shoulder. She handed me a wipe to get the blood off my face. She gave me an ointment to put on the scratches I had gotten. After I was done I handed it over to Nico. He screamed when it stung his cuts. Oops, I must have forgotten to tell him.

Of course, Soleil had not even bothered to take care of her own wounds yet. Some of the scratches from her fight with Ceto had reopened. She had a cut along the side of her face, next to her eye. There was another one on her calf where some of her jeans had been torn. I stood up. I could feel where bruises would be appearing later on.

"Norman's farther up the beach," Soleil said. "His ankle is broken though. I tried to make him a crutch out of what I could find but it is not that good."

"Have you seen Nick?" I asked.

She looked down. "No."

We walked down the beach to where Norman was. He had a bandage on the side of his neck. The crutch Soleil had made was actually very sturdy. Norman was able to stand up with some help. He yelled at Soleil to take care of herself when she started trying to make another crutch with some extra drift wood she had found. Nico and I backed him up.

Nico and I went searching for Nick. Norman wanted to go but Soleil made him stay where he was. They were still arguing about it when Nico and I left. My right knee still hurt when I walked, but it was just a little kink. It would be fine in a couple days. Right when Nico said we should give up I saw Nick walking along the beach like a zombie. I ran over.

"'Sup?" Nick said. His eye was starting to swell and he had a big bloodstain on his shirt. He was limping too. His breath was ragged.

"Come on, Soleil's waiting," I said.

I helped him walk back to where Soleil and Norman were still arguing. How much longer could they go on? When Soleil saw Nick she went into doctor mode. She made him lift up his shirt so she could deal with whatever was causing the bloodstain. He had a deep cut on his side. I could not look at it. Nico went extremely pale. Even Soleil was a little fazed by it. She fixed it up though. He ended up having to get stitches. Everyone was a little nervous when Soleil said she would have to give them. We all closed our eyes and turned away.

"Done," Soleil said.

I turned. Nick's eye was turning black now. His ankle was wrapped up. Norman, who had been able to save his backpack, gave him a new t-shirt. We put bits of drift wood we found in a pile in the direct sun so it would dry. We cleared away a spot in the shade of the palm trees to set up camp. I helped Nick make the fire pit.

"Is your ankle sprained or just swollen?" I asked to make conversation because the silence was giving me a headache.

"Sprained, probably."

"It's funny how you and Norman almost have the same injury."

He looked at me in annoyance. "Not really."

"Sorry, it's just…I didn't mean…I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Just for anything I did to upset you."

"You haven't done anything to upset me. Well, you have, but for the most part you already apologized for all those times. However, you never apologized for stealing my awesome captain's hat."

"That's because it was for me. I'm Captain, right?"

He smiled weakly. "Yeah, you are."

"What happened after I blacked out? I heard someone scream."

"The roof came off. Soleil was the one who screamed. She almost got sucked out of the room."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but Norman pulled her back. I think she smacked him after that. I'm not really sure."

"It's kind of miraculous we all ended up on the same beach."

"Well, we all kind of formed a huddle after that."

"Then it's miraculous _I_ ended up on the same beach as all of you."

"You think I'd keep you out of the huddle? You would kill me if I did."

"That's right, I would. Thanks."

He gasped. "There's that word again. I must be on a roll."

I pushed him a little as I walked by. I sat next to Soleil on the beach. She had been talking to Nico before. Now she was talking to Norman while Nico skipped rocks a few yards away. My jaw dropped when Norman kissed Soleil on the forehead before walking away with Nico's help.

"What was that?" I asked.

Soleil laughed. "Nothing. We were just talking about Furrows and life and stuff."

"Stuff? Stuff like what?"

"Random stuff. Camp, dogs, his little sister."

"Nicolette? From what Nick's told me she seems pretty cool."

"Yeah. I want to meet her."

"Meeting the family already?" I teased.

"Shut up. I don't like Norman like that." She smirked. "She could probably tell me all sorts of embarrassing things about the twins."

"So talking about potentially embarrassing Norman a lot made him kiss you?"

"No. I was telling him about Roger," Roger is Soleil's step dad, "and he started telling me about his dad's new girlfriend, Mariah. He likes her but he's afraid his dad will back out of it like he always does."

"Oh…"

"And he might talk to his dad about transferring to Furrows."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Are you going back too?"

"Yes. I'll probably go back a few weeks after we get back to camp. I'll just say I went on some cruise thing."

Right then I heard the sound of a horn. It echoed down the whole beach. Soleil and I turned our heads in that direction. I stood up. I knew what it was. It was the Hunt's hunting horn.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

I jumped up. I heard a deep grunt from behind me. I turned. I jumped to the side just in time. The Minotaur ran right by me. Soleil ran back toward our camp. I followed her. Nico put his bad hand in his pocket so he would not be tempted to use it. Nick limped forward with his knife. I made him sit down. I took his knife just in case. Norman looked extremely ticked off as Soleil got her bow and arrow. The twins tried to argue, but we made them stay behind. We ran back to the beach.

The Minotaur ran right at us. It was too close to shoot. Soleil slid her bow into her quiver and pulled her knife. I held up Nick's knife. Nico waited with his sword. The Minotaur got closer. We all jumped to the side once he got to us. Soleil backpedaled. She pulled me along with her. Nico lunged at the Minotaur. Only the tip of the sword hit it. The Minotaur sent Nico flying back. He landed on his bad hand.

Soleil pulled her bow back out. Mine appeared in my hand. A silver arrow appeared. Soleil had to set hers. We shot at the Minotaur. Soleil's hit him right between the eyes. Mine went through the very center of his chest. He was already turning to dust when a volley of silver arrows arched through the air. They landed in the sand, right where the Minotaur had been.

The Hunters appeared from behind some palm trees. There were probably thirty or so, all in silver fleece jackets and jeans. The girl at the front had on a silver tiara. She was the first lieutenant. Her hair was shoulder length and black. Her eyes were rimmed with dark black eyeliner. She had bright blue eyes. What had Nico said her name was? Thalia Grace. She was a daughter of Zeus.

Soleil totally ignored them. She went to help Nico. I walked forward. There was a girl who was about twelve or thirteen at the front of the group. She had dark auburn hair that was long and thick. Before I could really look at her she turned. She barked an order in Latin then walked away. Thalia seemed very confused. All the Hunters left except her. She walked up to me.

"Lady Artemis would like to invite you all to dinner," she said. She looked me over. "You're a good archer."

I smiled. "I know. I heard that's a pretty important quality in Hunters."

She smiled back. "It is." She looked at Soleil helping Nico rewrap his wrist. "Is that Nico di Angelo?"

"Yes."

She walked over. Nico stood up. The two began talking when Soleil walked back I told her we had been invited to dinner with the Hunters. We went back to camp to tell the twins. Nick seemed less than thrilled. Norman was perfectly happy.

"Wait, so we were all invited to have dinner with thirty teenage girls?" Norman asked yet again.

"Yes, you idiot, did you not here us the first time?" Soleil shouted back in frustration. She smacked him on the head. "Listen!"

"Ouch!"

The two started arguing. Yay! Something new! I rolled my eyes. We wasted our time until dinner time by doing random stuff. I skipped rocks for an hour. I got up to four skips. Nico could get six. Soleil got ten. She has a thing with throwing and shooting things. She was the number one pitcher on Furrow's softball team. Nick and Norman were cranky because they could not go far.

At around sunset we headed off to find the Hunt's camp. We went in the direction the Hunter's had gone in when Artemis left. I had to help Nick walk. Norman threatened to whack anyone who tried to help him with his crutch. Of course Soleil tried to help him. She said if he hit her she would hit him right back, but with her knife.

We found the camp. A bunch of silver tents were set up. The Hunters looked at us with mixed emotions. Thalia walked forward to greet us. She led us to the largest tent. "Soleil, Lady Artemis would like to speak with you," she said. Soleil shrugged. She walked in. Thalia led us to sit near the fire. Norman got backhanded within sixty seconds by one of the Hunters. I heard Soleil laugh. I turned, expecting to see her have just walked out of the tent to see Norman get hit. She was still in the tent.

I sat at the end of our row. A group of large white wolves walked into the camp. The Hunters walked by them without fear. Nico and Nick looked a little nervous. Norman was still rubbing his jaw. A girl started feeding them. I stood up. I walked next to her. "Can I help?" I asked. The girl handed me some meat she had.

One of the larger wolves walked right up to me. It nudged my hand with its nose. I gave it some of my meat. It licked my hand. It was acting like it knew me. I petted its head. It sat down right next to me. Another large wolf came over. It looked even older than the one I had just fed. It was probably in its teens. I gave it the rest of the meat. It sat on the other side of me. I stroked both their heads.

"They like you."

I looked up. It was Thalia. "Yeah, I guess. I'm just a new face, that's why."

"They usually don't like new people." Thalia petted one behind the ear. "This girl, Angel, she's been alive for almost sixteen years." She petted the other one. "And Demon." She laughed. "Up until a couple years ago he truly lived up to his name. He's almost twenty. The others are all their pups."

"It's like a big wolf family." I patted Angel on the head. "You don't look a day over eight."

She barked happily. Demon licked my hand. He barked too. Thalia walked away. I kept petting Demon and Angel. Soleil walked out of the tent. She came right up to me. I looked at her. "What was that about?" I asked.

"Lady Artemis," she said, "asked me to join the Hunt."

"That's awesome. Well, what did you say?" I knew she had said no so I just asked out of courtesy.

"I told her I would think about it during dinner."

I blinked. I was thoroughly shocked. "I thought you would say-"

"No? I was going to originally, but then I thought about it more, and it might actually be fun."

"But, you said the no boys policy was going to be a problem."

"If boys are the only thing I would have to give up to have this-," she motioned toward the camp, "-then I would do it."

"Really now?"

"Yes, really now."

"Did Artemis say anything else?"

Soleil thought for a second. "Um, no. I don't think so."

I frowned. "Oh…"

"Aren't you going to go talk to her about joining the Hunt?"

"Um, not right now. Maybe later on."

We ate dinner around the campfire. Soleil was oddly quiet. Norman commented on it. She slapped him. I sat between Nick and Nico. A lot of the Hunters were glaring at the three boys. I moved to sit next to Soleil after dinner so I would not be in the direct line of fire. Soleil headed for the large tent. Artemis had still not come out of it.

Almost a half hour later Soleil exited. She was smiling brightly. She sat down next to Norman. She smacked him upside the head.

"Ow," he said.

"Get used to it," Soleil said. She looked at me. "I didn't join."

"Why not?"

She shrugged. "It just didn't seem right to me."

I smiled. "Good, because I'm not joining either."

Everyone snapped their heads in my direction. They all looked shocked. I shrugged. Artemis did not seem to like me or want me in the Hunt. If the leader did not like me, why should I join? I would just be ignored by her, and part of being in the Hunt was having a friendship with Artemis. I stood up. It was time for us to head back to our own camp.

"Thanks for the dinner," I told Thalia.

"I'll pass on your gratitude to Lady Artemis," she said.

"Please, don't."

We walked back to camp. Nico and Norman took first watch. Not like it mattered. We were all sleeping on mats we had made with palm fronds. Besides, I could not fall asleep at all. Nico and Norman talked about random, uninteresting stuff for the longest time. I have no idea how I did not fall asleep during that.

"You glad she didn't join?" Nico asked.

"Huh?" Norman said. He sounded tired.

"Are you glad Soleil didn't join the Hunt?"

"Uh, why should it matter? It's her life."

"Really? Then what did you tell her before she went into the tent?" I had noticed Norman said something to her before she went into Artemis's tent, too.

"I just asked her if I could have the rest of her dinner. She didn't finish it."

"You're joking, right?"

"No. That's what I asked her. I was still really hungry. I got, like, a tenth of a pound of rabbit."

"What did she say?"

"Nothing. She walked into the tent. Dude, what are you trying to make this into?"

"Nothing. I'm just asking all the questions Tess would ask, since she's pretending to be asleep."

I rolled over. "I'm not pretending to be asleep," I told him. "I'm just eavesdropping."

"Whatever," Norman said. "It's your watch anyway." He poked Soleil in the back with his crutch. She jerked awake. "Your watch."

"Ugh, you jerk," she mumbled.

"How many times must I tell you it's Sir Jerk?"

"About as many times as I call you jerk until the day I die. Or preferably, until the day you die." Soleil sat up.

"If I die it will probably be by your hand." He crawled to his mat.

She mocked shooting Norman with a finger gun. "Hello! You're supposed to be dying dramatically right now!"


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

I was having a dream. I mean, I knew it was a dream. There is no way I could be balanced on the edge of a cliff this high up without being nervous. I was just kind of standing there, humming some song. I do not remember what song it was. I looked down. A river rushed by almost a thousand feet below.

I looked up. It was nighttime. Suddenly all the constellations vanished. All of them except the Hunter. The stars seemed to fall from the sky. They spiraled down toward the cliff. I turned to watch them swirl behind me. They joined together to form a person. It was a young girl with tan skin and long black hair in a braid. She wore the Hunter's uniform. She had a bow in her hand.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Zoë Nightshade," she responded.

"Why are you here?"

"I need you to wake up. This is your only chance to find out who you are."

"What do you mean?"

"I can not tell you. You must wake up. Find the Hunt before they leave. Do not let anyone stop you. You must speak with Lady Artemis."

"Why?"

"You were born to be a Hunter. Trust me, I know."

"How?"

"I am your godmother."

"What?"

"Wake up!" She started to scatter into stars again. "Wake up!"

"Wait!"

"Wake up!"

I sat up. Nick and Nico were on watch. What had the girl in my dream said? Find the Hunt before they leave. I jumped up. I began running through the palm trees. Nick and Nico were right behind me. Well, Nico was, and Nick tried to limp along as fast as he could. I though I heard Norman wake up too. I just kept running. I had to get to the Hunt.

I burst into the clearing where they were. They were putting away their camp. It was just after dawn. I ran toward Artemis's cabin. A group of girls blocked my path. They pushed me back. "Do not let anyone stop you".

I tore the sword out of the holster of a girl nearby. I did not think Hunters carried anything besides bows and knives. Maybe she was a daughter of Athena and liked to have every weapon at her disposal. Whoever she was I knocked her out with the butt of the sword. Two girls ran at me at once, both with two knives out.

I knocked the knives clean out of their hands with the blade. They stared at me. Another girl approached. I kicked up. Her jaw broke. She still tried to stab me. I jumped out of the way. I cut her arm, then her cheek, twirled away a she tried to stab me again, and cut her leg. I elbowed her in the back so she fell to the ground. The last girl ran at me. I blocked her swing. I kicked her in the ribs. She stumbled back. I was about to lunge when Thalia yelled, "Stop!".

I looked at her. Her bracelet turned into a shield with the face of Medusa on it. A lot of people nearby cowered away from it. I myself felt some fear as she walked closer. She closed it. She held her hunting knives at her side.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I need to talk to Artemis," I said.

"You could have talk to her last night."

"I need to talk to her now."

"Why?"

"I had a dream and in it someone told me to come here and talk to Artemis. She told me to not let anyone stop me."

"Really? And who was it in this 'dream' of yours that told you to come here?"

"I think her name was…Zoë Nightshade."

Thalia's cold expression changed. "Put your weapon down. I will go talk to Lady Artemis." She hurried into the cabin after I handed the sword back to the girl I had stolen it from.

I waited impatiently while Thalia was in the tent. A lot of the Hunters looked at me appraisingly. The ones that I had fought with glared at me. I tried to apology but they would not hear it. I twisted my ring nervously with my thumb. I hoped Artemis would not be mad at me.

Finally Thalia walked out of the tent. She looked at me with new respect. Suddenly Nick, Nico, and Norman walked into the clearing. Nico had to help both of them. They looked at me, at Thalia, then back at me. I turned back to Thalia. I would deal with them after.

"Lady Artemis would like to see you," she said. She looked at the boys. "I'll make sure they stay out of trouble."

"Thanks."

I opened the flap of the tent nervously. Artemis had her back to me. She was looking at the various skins hanging on her wall. I admired them for a few seconds. I cleared my throat. Artemis still did not turn to face me. She was taller than I remembered from the beach. Maybe it was because she had been farther away then. Still, she was almost five foot ten. No twelve year old is that tall.

"You may sit," she said.

I sat down on a pillow on the ground. I noticed the gold deer in the corner move. I thought it was a statue. It walked toward me. It lied down next to me. It rested its head on my knee. I did not know if I could pet it or not. I just sat still.

"I understand you broke into my camp," Artemis said.

"Yes, sorry. I had a dream and-"

"And Zoë Nightshade was in it. She was my lieutenant, you know? It was some amount of years ago. Thalia took over after she died. She was an outcast of the Hesperides. Her father was Atlas. She died because of him. She was very brave. You know your favorite constellation, The Hunter?"

"Um, yes." How did she know that was my favorite constellation?

"That is her. She always loved the stars."

"She said she was my godmother," I confessed.

"She was."

Artemis turned. She had changed her appearance so she looked to be in her mid-twenties. She still wore the Hunter uniform. Her hair was the same too. Her eyes were silver orbs. She blinked. Her eyes changed. The irises became midnight blue. My eyes were exactly that color.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

I felt like I was falling off a cliff. Artemis blinked again. Her eyes went back to silver orbs. "W-why did you just do that?" I stammered. Artemis sat cross legged on a pillow across from me. The gold deer moved to lie next to her. She began to pet it.

"Artesidon-"

"How do you know my real name?" I asked. It came out in a rush. I felt nervous, almost panicky.

"I gave you that name."

"B-but, your-"

"Artesidon, I am your mother."

"That's impossible!" I exclaimed.

"No, it is not."

"Yes, it is! I already have a godly parent. He's Poseidon. And it's not like he's just covering for you or something, because I can control water so it's obvious that I'm his kid. And you can't have kids because you're the goddess of virginity and the guardian of those before marriage. If you were to give birth your whole existence would be a huge lie or a scandal at least."

"Your father is Poseidon."

I stared at her. "But you just said you're my mother, so how can he be my father?"

She smiled in amusement. Why? Did she find this amusing? I sure as Hades did not. "Which one of you is lying?"

"Neither. Your father is Poseidon, and I am your mother."

It took me a few minutes just to process that last bit right there. Finally I said, "How?"

"Sixteen years ago your father did me a favor. I was very thankful. Over a little while I fell in love with him. Then you were born."

"But you're the goddess of virginity! You can't just go around sleeping with gods and having kids!"

"I did not sleep with him. Do you know how children of Athena are born?"

"Um, no."

"They are born, technically, from Athena's head. It is based on the amount of love shared between Athena and the man. She is still a maiden, as am I."

"So, I was, like, born from your head?"

"No. You were born from a flower."

"Yeah, that makes so much more sense."

"Your father gave me an edelweiss on March twenty-second, the day we decided it would be best for us to, well, 'break-up'. He put all his love into that flower, and I put all of mine. At that very instant, the flower grew to a very large size and bloomed, and, in the center, was you."

I shivered a little. That seemed like a really creepy and weird way to be born. "That is…different. But, that doesn't really make sense. If I was born from a flower and all you put into that flower was emotion, how do I even exist? There's not even an ounce of DNA there."

"Gods and goddesses don't have DNA."

"Exactly, that's what I'm saying. How do I…" My mom was a goddess, my dad was a god. I was really slow on the pick-up, huh? "I'm a goddess?"

Artemis smiled. "Yes."

"But, I'm not all strong and powerful and…goddessy."

"I am often confused with Hecate, which has led us to have a close friendship. She made me a potion to give you so you would not resemble a goddess until you are eighteen."

"Not at all?"

"No. Well, there might be a few kinks. I noticed you glow in darkness. Besides that you will not resemble the goddess you are until you are eighteen."

"But what if I stayed fourteen forever?"

"You're fifteen."

"What?"

"It's March twenty-six."  
>I whistled. Wow, I had completely missed my birthday. "Okay, but what if I was to stay fifteen forever? What would happen to the potion?"<p>

"It would wear off immediately. You would automatically resemble a goddess. If you are to acquire any traits of a goddess on your own, such as marrying a god or gaining eternal life, the potion wears off."

"Do any gods know I exist?"

"Hecate is the only one that knows. My twin brother might, but he is far too self-absorbed to care."

"And if the potion wears off, will they know?"

"No. Not unless you present yourself to them."

"I won't do that, trust me." I took a deep breath. "I want to join the Hunt, then."

Artemis smiled again. "I would be proud to have you, Artesidon."

"I just have one more question: was I ever introduced to the wolves?"

"Yes, they all loved you. You lived with the Hunt for a few months before I brought you to the orphanage. I told them I had found you along the road. They were all so sympathetic. Zoë knew, though, that was why I made her your godmother. The ring, that was hers. I gave it to her when she became lieutenant. She gave it to you as a present." She folded her hands with finality. "Now, repeat after me: I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis…"


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

I stepped out of the tent. Thalia was waiting there. She smiled at me. "Welcome to the Hunt," she said, handing me a backpack, "second lieutenant." I slung the silver backpack over my shoulder. I knew inside was the uniform. I slipped into an empty tent to change quickly. Nico, Nick, and Norman had not yet noticed I was out of Artemis's tent. When I finished changing Thalia was there again. She gave me two hunting knives. I tied them to my forearms like she showed me. She handed me a tiara. It was smaller than hers, with a diamond crescent moon in the center, like on my ring.

"You have to be recognized," she said.

I put the tiara on. It fit perfectly. Who ever thought _I_ would be wearing a tiara? Thalia walked away. I went up to the boys. They had their backs to me. "Hey," I said. They jumped a little and turned. Their eyes widened when they saw me.

"What's with the tiara?" Nico asked.

"You're a Hunter now?" Norman asked.

Nick walked away without a word. I watched him. I would talk to him later. I did not even know what I would say to him. Norman leaned against his crutch. "Soleil is not going to be happy," he said.

"We talked about the Hunt a lot," I said. "She'll understand."

"Uh-huh, sure. But the last time you talked about it you said you weren't joining."

"Norm, she's my best friend, she'll understand."

"What's with the tiara?" Nico asked again. "It's not really your style."

"I'm the second lieutenant," I said.

"Why?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Why _not_?"

He looked at me closer. "What is up with your eyes?"

"Huh?"

"They're all sparkly."

I held up my knife. I could see my eyes reflecting back. It looked like there were literally stars in my irises. I put the knife back. "Oh, that, that's just because I'm a goddess."

Nico and Norman started cracking up. After what happened with my eyes I pretty much had an idea about what my power range was. I held out my hand. I was still willing it to happen when a star appeared hovering in my hand. Nico and Norman froze.

"Is it really that funny anymore?" I asked. The shook there heads no. I tilted my head to the side. "Good." The star vanished.

"If…but…" Norman stuttered. "How…because…no, but…"

"Just stay quiet."

"Well, I'm not going to disobey a goddess, now am I?"

"Hey, I'm still the same ol' Tess."

"Tess…that's not a very goddess-like name," Nico commented.

"No, duh. It's my nickname."

"Tess is your nickname? I thought it was your full name."

"Nope." Thalia walked over. She said we were leaving camp in a half hour or less. "Look, guys, I really have to talk to Nick and help finish picking up camp. I don't think I'll have time to talk to Soleil. Could you just tell her I joined the Hunt?"

Norman hesitated. "Yeah, sure."

"But don't tell her I'm a goddess and crap. Just wait until you think she's ready to hear it. Please."

"We will."

I looked at Nico. "Please, take care of Soleil. Make sure she doesn't kill herself."

Nico nodded. "Will do," he said.

I looked at Norman. "And you try not to argue with her too much. I know you care about her, so don't try to act all macho and say you don't."

He laughed. "I'll be nice to her."

"Good." I sighed. "Now I just have to go find Nick."

I walked through the palm trees in the direction I had seen Nick walk. He was pretty far away from the camp. He had his hands in his pocket. His back was to me. I knew he knew I was there. I stepped forward. He turned. Phew, he was not crying or anything. He just looked really, really depressed. I walked forward more.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he said.

I felt like there was something stuck in my throat. "I just, uh, came to say bye."

"Well, then, bye."

"Bye." I stood there for a few seconds.

"Aren't you going to leave now?"

"Um, yeah. I guess I might see you around."

"Yeah."

"And if we ever come to camp, I'll be sure we kick your butt."

He actually smiled a little at that. "I wouldn't be so sure, Captain." He held out his hand. "Congrats on the second lieutenant thing, by the way."

I shook his hand. "Thanks."

I tried to pull my hand away. Nick would not let me. He pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back. He kissed the top of my head.

"I'm considering whether or not to try to go all Romeo right now," he whispered to lighten the mood a little.

"Please, don't," I said.

"Yeah, I love you too much to put you through that."

I pulled away. I really did not need to hear that last part. I shook his hand again. I walked back to the camp. He followed me, but there was a ten foot distance between us. He stayed with Norman and Nico while I helped finish packing up camp. I waved to them all as the Hunt took off walking through the palm trees.

I walked next to Thalia. Artemis, back in the form of a twelve year old, walked in front of us. After a couple hours of just walking, Artemis pulled her hunting horn out. She blew it. My bow sprang to life in my hand. All the other Hunters' bows appeared in their hands. Welcome to the rest of your life, I thought to myself as the chimera came running into view. It only made me half as happy as I had been expecting.


	21. Epilogue Soleil

**Epilogue-Soleil**

"Zippety-doo-da, zippety-day, my oh my, what a wonderful day," I sang quietly while I finished cleaning my bunk. I tossed my little brother Ron's baseball glove under his pillow before the door opened. Fantastic, Norman was doing the inspection today. I just could not wait to here his stupid sarcastic comments that were bound to come. He just wrote some things on the clipboard then left. Wait, whoa, where did he think he was going without saying his stupid sarcastic comments?

I ran out of the building. He was waiting outside, leaning against the side. I acted like I had not just run out of the cabin to talk to him. I examined my nails for a few seconds. I looked up. I mocked shock.

"Wow, where did you come from?" I asked. "I thought you were, like, waaaaay down there inspecting the other cabins already."

"Not yet," Norman replied. "Uh, Soleil, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Oh, no, you sound serious. Why do you sound serious?"

"Remember how we told you Tess joined the Hunt?"

I hesitated. "Yes. You told me she joined the Hunt, the day after she told me she wasn't joining."

"There's something else I need to tell you. About Tess."

"What is it?"

"Tess is a goddess."

"No, seriously, what is it?"

"Uh, just that. She's a goddess. She told us not to tell you until you were ready to hear it. Nico and I decided it was time to tell you."

This was probably going to take a couple days before it completely sunk in. "Well, that's great for her." I began walking away.

"Sol, you okay?"

"Please! When am I not okay?"

Norman tapped his pen on the clipboard. "Right. Uh, want to help me with inspection? You're better at criticizing things."

"Speaking of which, that shirt doesn't match those jeans."

"They're jeans. They go with everything."

"Except that shirt. They aren't the right wash."

"Just save the criticism for the cabins."

I helped him with the rest of the cabins. For all you Ares kids reading this, two words: air freshener. The Demeter cabin was nice, as usual. The cabin that was the nicest was Dionysus, though. There were only two kids there right now so it was easy to keep tidy. The other two Dionysus kids had already left. There were only a couple more days left of summer session. I was leaving on the last day to head back to Furrows.

"How was dinner with Mariah last night?" I asked Norman while I was helping him with office stuff. We were making copies of the notes that would be placed on the cabin doors on the last day.

"Fine. She and Nicki are getting along really well."

"That's good."

We did not talk that much more until after. Norman and Nick left the next day to spend a couple weeks with their dad. I began packing. I dropped my mythology book when Ron came up behind me to scare me. It opened the myth of Apollo versus Python. I had read it a couple months ago. It was starting to grow dim in my mind. I liked other myths better. It did not really bother me that I did not remember it as well. I mean, why would I need to know about Python?

* * *

><p>For all of you who don't know, the sequel to this story is "Soleil Kentley: Snake Bites"! Just in case you wanted to read it!<p> 


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